In the Heat of the Sun
by klyonsm2
Summary: Fanfiction about Nico and Will solace. Picks up after the end of blood of olympus. Nice and fluffy.
1. Chapter 1: The Aftermath

one summer, in the burning heat of the sun, the ghost king made a decision to follow the beat of his own drum. For years, he had treated himself like a disease, making himself foreign to friendship. One part of him knew that it wasn't what he wanted but the other half shot him down and decided that it was the only way to live. But it wasn't the only way to live.

One day, in the heat of the sun, the ghost king decided it was time to stop hiding from everyone.

Chapter 1: The aftermath  
Ever since the war ended, there seemed to be a lot more possibilities than ever seemed possible. Now, the Greeks and Romans could be friends. Now, you could visit both camps without fear of being caught and probably killed. Now, the Greeks and Romans both had allies they could rely on in times of need. Now, Greeks and Romans could be friends.  
Now, Nico could have friends.  
Since Nico had returned to camp for good, he'd been having mixed emotions. On one side, he was starting to relax and get comfortable with all of these people actually being friendly to him. On the other end, these people made him nervous. What history repeats itself as it often does? What if they only welcome him for so long, until they forget what he did for them, and then shun him again?  
He was trying to hang on and keep to his promise of staying at camp, but it was hard to break his habit of leaving. Well actually, right now, he couldn't leave if he wanted to, because he was stuck in the damn infirmary.

Three days. He was only supposed to spend three days in the infirmary, but it seemed like he had been in here for almost a week. He felt like he was about to go mad. Not necessarily because he was isolated from the majority of the camp, but from the fact that he knew he wasn't free to do as he pleased. He had to stay here and obey the most stubborn demigod he's ever met.

It was very different from what Nico was used to, but it wasn't necessarily bad. There was good food and Nico had to admit, the infirmary had pretty good WiFi (which somehow, Chiron didn't know about. Must've been a gift from Hephaestus). Plus, It felt pretty good to be looked after.  
_Also, I get to see the son of Apollo every day_. Nico scolded himself internally for thinking something even remotely close to that. He didn't want this to happen again. Or maybe he did, but he wanted it to be better this time. Either way, he was embarrassed of himself and his face flushed red. Then, once he realised he was blushing, it flushed even redder.


	2. Chapter 2: The Invitation

Chapter 2: the Invitation  
Though Nico had not actually done much in at least 6 days, he was exhausted. In the morning, Piper and Jason came to talk his ear off everything going on in camp (and bye everything, he meant **every last tiny detail**). Nico really wanted to listen to what they were saying, but it was just uninteresting to him. An Aphrodite camper threw a fit, a Hermes camper pulled a massive prank, a Hypnos camper drifted off at the worst time. Nico didn't really see how any of this was new.  
But then, Piper said something that caught Nico's attention. "And also, Reyna sent a letter addressed to you." she held out an envelope with illegible cursive handwriting and a purple SPQR stamp. "Personally, I didn't know people still wrote letters, especially when you can iris message someone. Or text them. You know, if you would get a phone."  
"Well, excuse me for being a bit old fashioned. Plus, cellphones are dangerous for demigods. You know that." Nico snatched the letter out of Pipers hands and starting ripping apart the envelope.  
"Read it out loud." Jason said.  
Nico scoffed. "We'll see about that."  
Nico finally retrieved the letter from its wrappings and began to read in his head. The letter was only one page but it took forever to read due to reyna's horrible cursive. Why didn't she just type it out? Maybe Reyna was a bit old fashioned too.

_Dear Nico, I know I just left, but I'd like to extend a formal invite to you, Coach Hedge (and family), Jason, Piper, Percy, and Annabeth to join Camp Jupiter in a feast in the __Seven's__ (plus you, me, and Coach's) Honor. Invite whoever you like, but please limit it to one or two __people. __Your ride will be there at __10__:__00__ am next Saturday._

_Also, don't try to shadow travel here. We will send __SUVs__ to come get you guys. That healer friend of yours is right. Last time you tried to shadow travel, you almost died._  
_How is your healer friend anyway? His name is will, right? I don't want to embarrass myself by calling him the wrong name when you bring him to the feast (and I know that you're going to bring him to the feast. I mean, you have to. He's never seen New Rome and might never get a chance to see it again. Just saying.)_

_Anyway, write back ASAP. See you Saturday._  
_P.s__. Hazel and Frank say hi._  
_From, your friend, Reyna._

After deciphering Reyna's hand writing, Nico read Jason and Piper the first paragraph but nothing more.  
"Wow, that's really cool!" Piper exclaimed once he was done.  
"I would go spread the word to the others but I'm not allowed to get up unless I have to go to the bathroom. I'm on bed rest. Doctor's orders."  
"That's okay. Pipes and I will go show them." Jason said, casually reaching for the letter.  
"No!" Nico raised his voice a bit too loud. "I mean, yeah go tell them, but you don't need the letter to do that. I think I'm going to hold onto the letter." Nico squeaked trying to regain the causality of the conversation moment ago.

Jason and Piper looked a Little freaked out at first, but quickly returning to the flow of conversation. More talk of tantrums, pranks, and Pegasus accidents. Nico again tried to stay focused, but his attention kept drifting off toward the words of Reyna's letter.  
After a while, Jason and Piper decided it was time to go and tell Percy, Annabeth, and Coach about the feast.  
"We'll try to drop by later, probably after dinner." Jason said. Then he pointed toward the small TV mounted on the wall across from Nico's bed. "Have fun watching Olympus's next top Nereid."  
"Ha. Ha." Nico said blandly. "There's only one channel, which is Hephaestus TV, so it's literally the only thing there is to watch."  
Jason and Piper exited the room. Nico laid back down in a hopeless attempt to try and fall asleep. Somewhere down the hall, he heard Piper say "oh, hey Will. We just visited him. He's doing fine. But I think he might have something he wants to ask you." Oh gods, Piper, why? "Oh, okay. I was just about to bring him lunch anyway." Will stated. A few seconds later he heard footsteps (and faint giggling, which could have came from no one but Piper). He felt almost all the blood in his body rush to his cheeks and he hurriedly tried to stuff his face in a pillow, hoping Will wouldn't see.  
The door opened a crack and Will poked his head inside. "I know you're not asleep, you know. Piper and Jason were just leaving from Visiting you."  
Will opened the door wider and brought in a plastic tray with Nico's lunch on it. Peanut butter and jelly, yogurt, string cheese, an apple, and a glass of water. Will set the lunch on Nico's bedside table as Nico unburied himself from his pillow and stared at his lunch. Gods, that was a lot of food, at least for Nico.  
"I have to eat all of that?" Nico asked.  
"Yes, If you want to leave."  
Nico was caught off guard. "What?" Nico was somewhat confused and alarmed.  
"Once you eat all of that, I'll dismiss you from the infirmary."  
Nico had mixed feelings. On hand, he want to be free to do as he wanted again, but at the same time...Nico wasn't quite sure what the other feeling was. Disappointment, maybe? He wanted to say that he didn't know why he was disappointed, but he knew exactly why. He enjoyed being cared for for the first time in a very long time.  
Nico scoffed at himself. He was being absolutely foolish. He needed to get out of here. All the reality shows on Hephaestus TV were driving him mad.  
He picked up the tray and very very slowly, began to eat. Will pointed at the Letter and asked "Whats this?"  
"Its a letter from Reyna."  
"Can I read it?"  
"No." Nico swallowed hard. "But I can tell you what it says."  
"Okay, then what does it say?" Will said, sitting on the end of Nico's bed, criss-cross-applesauce, waiting for Nico to begin.  
Nico read the first paragraph to will, leaving out the part where Reyna told him to bring a guest. It's not that Nico didn't want Will to come. He really did, but he was going to ask him on his own time. He had a week before the feast. That was more than enough time to ask his _friend_ to _casually_ hang out in New Rome with him.  
Who was he kidding? Because he certainly wasn't kidding himself.  
"That's cool. I've heard New Rome is amazing. Now, if you want to leave, you need to eat your lunch." Will said sternly, handing Nico his peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  
"Fine." Nico said a bit too bitter.  
Nico ate slowly, partly because it was a lot of food, partly because he wasn't sure he wanted to leave.  
He suddenly felt incredibly guilty. Here he was, taking up Will's time that Will could be using to treating another patient because he didn't want to leave.  
"I'll be back in a few minutes to check on you. I have paperwork to fill out. uuuuuggggghh. That's one of the few things I hate about being a healer. All this paperwork." Will groaned.  
Nico couldn't help but smile a little bit. Gods, this dork.  
"I'll be here." Nico said, finishing up his peanut butter and jelly.  
Nico watched the tall, blonde healer stride out of the room. He looked down at his hands, where he had been subconsciously twisting his silver skull ring.  
He used to do that when he had a crush on Percy.

Nico had mixed feelings again. On one side, Nico was furious with himself. Why should Nico deserve someone like Will? On the other hand, why shouldn't he deserve Will? He had been through Tartarus _alone_. He had fought off entire armies by himself. He had saved the world at least twice. He had lived with Demeter.  
He deserved something good in his life for once.


	3. Chapter 3: free to go

Chapter 3: Free to go  
Will had never been more excited while filling out paperwork. He wasn't excited _because_ he was filling out paperwork. No, not at all. He was just excited.  
A feast in New Rome. Wow.  
Will tried to act casual about it in front of Nico, but he _really_ _really _wanted to go. The only things Will had heard of New Rome were from the Romans themselves, so they were probably a bit biased, but that didn't change the fact that Will wanted to see it for himself. He wanted to see New Rome with Nico.

Will was practically drooling over the thought of Nico inviting him to New Rome. Will only realized he was daydreaming when one of his brothers came and asked him if he was okay, snapping Will out of his fantasies. "Oh yeah I'm fine. Just...ummm... filling out paperwork." Will hummed.  
Will's brother eyed him suspiciously "uh huh. Well, I'm just going to go back to work now."

Will looked back down at his paperwork and his mood instantly dampened. Nico's release form.  
He instantly felt guilty for being upset about letting Nico leave. But he had to. He felt bad about keeping Nico here so long. He feared if he didn't let Nico out soon, Nico would probably hate Will, if he already didn't.

Will had to be truthful with himself. He had a crush on Nico Di Angelo. Will wasn't necessarily upset with himself because of it. It was a fact of his life. He had no control over it, so why punish himself for it?  
And to be even more honest with himself, he really didn't want Nico to leave. He enjoyed seeing Nico everyday and making sure the boy ate properly. He enjoyed taking care of Nico and nagging him about his health.  
But he knew he had kept Nico locked up in the infirmary long enough. Will wasn't sure if Nico would go out of his way to talk to Will or visit Will after he let him out, but Will was tired of putting it off.

Will filled out the paper and hesitantly signed his name at the bottom. He filled out a few other papers for other patients and decided to go see how the other patients were doing.  
As he passed Conner and Travis, who were frequent patients at the infirmary, they said "Will! Will!"  
Will looked at the Stolls, one of which had a huge cast on their leg, other having an equally huge cast on their arm, both covered with signatures.  
"Just the man we'd been looking for!" Travis had a sly grin on his face that scared Will. Even in the hospital, he was up to something.  
"Hey Will," Conner said sweetly. "Would you mind doing us a favor?"  
"Yes, I would mind. I'm not getting caught by Chiron doing your dirty work."  
"How do you know you'll be doing our dirty work?" Travis asked.  
Will rolled his eyes. "Because almost every time I walk by here, you guys ask me to pull some kind of pranks on someone for you."  
"But we're just three arms and three legs right now!" Conner cried, waving a finger at the giant white cast on his leg.  
"Which means you'll have trouble pranking for a while. I don't see how that's a bad thing." Will chimed.  
"Will, will you at least sign our casts?" Travis put on a puppy dog face that he was somehow convinced would work.  
"Hmmm..." Will thought aloud. "Maybe, you know, if I didn't already know you were going to use it to forage my signature."  
Travis and Conner were quiet for a moment, quite a rare occurrence. "Touchè." Conner muttered as Will walked away to check on other patients.  
He stopped to check on Lou Ellen, who had been carried to the infirmary after she had accidentally used the wrong magic and it back fired. She still had a tail and a few warts left, but the worst of it was gone.  
"Feeling any better?" Will asked gently, sitting on the edge of her bed.  
"Yeah, I'm fine. Shouldn't you be checking a certain someone?" Lou Ellen hummed, wiggling her eyebrows. She then began to do her new favorite Will impression: "oh Nico, you're so handsome and brave."  
"Lou Ellen, I suggest you stop right there or I'll hire the Stolls to do something horrible."  
Lou Ellen rolled her eyes. "Suuure you will. So how's he doing?"  
"Better. Not necessarily good, but better. I still don't think he'll be able to use his underworld-y stuff for a few months. I'm releasing him today."  
"Oh, really? And what if he tries to use his powers as soon as he gets out?"  
"Lou Ellen, I don't think he's _t__hat_ much of an idiot. Dense? Yes. Stubborn? Yes. Stupid? Not quite."  
Lou Ellen laughed a little bit, which quickly turned into a yawn.  
"You need to get some rest." Will insisted.  
Lou Ellen yawned again. "No need to tell me twice."

Will retreated to his workspace, putting everything away in its correct place. He then took the brave walk down the hallway to Mr. Di angelo's room.

Will peeked inside hoping Nico was either asleep or hadn't finished his lunch so Will wouldn't have tell him he could leave. Neither of those were the case.

Nico sat up in his bed with the blandest expression on his face, practically glaring at the TV screen. For a misleading moment, Will was scared Nico was glaring at him.

"So, you finished your lunch. I guess your free to go. You just need to sign a few things." Will said awkwardly.  
"Shhhhh this episode is almost over." Nico hissed.  
Will cranked his neck to see what was on, which was a show called _Olympian Idol_.  
"So, the son of the God of the underworld, who can raise the dead from the ground and command armies of skeletons and has literally lived in Hell, likes reality TV shows."  
Now, Nico really was glaring at him. "So the son of the God of healing, who is practically a doctor, has just asked to be killed."  
"Oh please." Will rolled his eyes. "You couldn't kill me right now, even if you wanted to. Which brings us to our next order of business: your powers. Unless you start recovering miraculously fast, I don't think you'll be able to use your powers for at least two or three months."

A look of shock took over Nico's face. "Three months?!"  
"Hey, three months isn't that bad. It's better than not being able to use them again at all, which would be a very likely probability if you had kept using your powers."  
Nico said in silence, in shock, for a moment or two. It was clear Nico had never really regarded not being able to use his powers as something that could actually happen to him. Nico stared at himself, his hands, probably realizing how close he was to never using his powers again.  
Will finally broke the awkward silence. "You need to gather your things and come with me so you can sign some paperwork."  
Nico obliged, still silent and gloomy from the bad news Will had dropped on him.  
Will already missed the new Nico he had come to know the past few days. Happy Nico. Will was afraid that the bad news had ruined whatever chances he had had with this son of Hades. But Will wasn't sorry. Nico deserved to know just how close he came to losing his powers, if not losing his life.  
Will lead Nico to his workspace, where Will searched his ever so clustered desk for Nico's release form. He finally spotted it half hidden under a bunch of other papers. "Aaah, here we are." Will yanked the file out from underneath the rest (Will had had enough practice to not send the other papers flying).  
Will pointed at the few unfilled in blanks on the page. "Sign here and here."  
Nico quietly did as he was told. His cursive was surprisingly very very neat, virtually perfect. Much much better than Will's sloppy scribbles.  
"Okay." Will said. His voice was unintentionally shaky. "You're free to go."  
Nico started shuffling for the door. He stopped midway through and poked his head back through. "Hey, Will?"  
"Yeah?" Will responded.  
Nico kind of looked down at his feet in a shy way. "I know the Apollo table at mealtime is kind of crowded. You're welcome to come sit with me and Jason, if you want."  
Will's heart felt like it was about to explode. It was only a simple offer but it held so much potential.  
"Ill be sure to take you up on that offer." Will tried to keep his voice as smooth as possible.  
Nico gave Will the slightest smile and said "See you tonight then". Nico took himself and his belongings outside, into the blinding sunlight.

Will wanted to sing at the top of his lungs. Unfortunately, he was a very bad singer. He could barely keep himself contained. Will sat in his spinning office chair and spun in circles until he got dizzy.


	4. Chapter 4: Iris Message

Chapter 4: Iris message  
Nico was free from the infirmary at last. As he walked across camp towards his cabin, he looked back at the infirmary. Gods, Nico was sure he was crazy. What kind of person would miss being in the hospital?  
Apparently, Nico.  
Nico was almost afraid to leave the infirmary. What if Will, being as busy as he is, didn't have time for Nico anymore?  
Nico's stomach did a loop thinking about what he had told Will before he left the infirmary. Nico had to admit, something like that, to his crush, was pretty gutsy. Nico had faced hundreds of armies and had been in the deepest pit of Hell, and still, Nico had never been more afraid than that split second before Will answered.

And the best part was, Will didn't say no. He didn't look mortified or disgusted by the offer. He actually smiled a little.  
Nico felt like dancing or screaming at the top of his lungs, but both would send people running away, yelling for help.

Nico walked into his gloomy cabin. He stood there for a second, letting his eyes readjust. Then he threw his stuff on the floor and plopped onto his bed. What was he going to do now? He needed something to keep his mind off of Will until dinner or else he would over think it. Just laying here in his cabin definitely wasn't taking his mind off of Will.  
Nico wanted to sword fight. He had been stuck in the infirmary for 6 days and hadn't touched his sword once during that time, much less practice. But then, Nico decided it wouldn't be a good idea to send Will more patients, which would probably make Will work through dinner.  
Nico could iris message Hazel or Reyna. Maybe he could talk to Reyna about her invitation. Maybe catch up with his sister.  
Nico pulled himself up off the bed and began to walk to the camp store. Gods, he hoped he still had a few coins.  
The air conditioning in the camp store was beyond excessive. Nico felt like he's just stepped into the middle of blizzard. He instantly missed his jacket, which had been pretty much torn to shreds. He hadn't been able to find a replacement yet.  
Nico shivered uncontrollably and basically waddled around the store. Finally he found what he was looking for.

_Iris's rainbow in a bottle: open the cap to unleash Iris's nature-friendly rainbow._ _All organic!_

Nico grabbed the plastic bottle off the shelf and walked towards the counter. A daughter of Hermes, who Nico didn't really know the name of, was behind the counter, reading a magazine (a dumb tabloid called _Olympus's hottest_). Nico was sure she knew he was there, but that didn't make her look up from her magazine. Nico cleared his throat in an attempt to catch her attention, but with no luck. Finally, with a sigh, Nico dug the money out of his pocket, set it on the counter and just walked out with the bottle.

He walked back to his cabin, stopping his tracks halfway there. He forgot to tell Jason and Piper he was out of the infirmary. _"Oh well" _he thought, "_they'll figure it_ _out."_

He shut himself in his cabin and began to dig through his pockets again for a coin. Once he found one, he sent the bottle on the floor in the middle of his cabin and slowly untwisted the lid. A shimmering white mist slow crept out of the bottle, moving up towards the ceiling. In seconds, a glittering rainbow stood just about eye-level with Nico. Nico tossed his golden coin into the mist and said "Show me Hazel Levesque."

The mist simmered for a second, slowly fading into a new picture. He saw a lavishly decorated room with SPQR tattooed everywhere in gold. He saw a long table covered in papers upon papers with three people surrounding it, Hazel, Reyna, and Frank.  
They were in a lively discussion about preparations, most likely for the feast. Frank was the first to notice Nico.  
Frank had become more accustomed to Nico lately, but it still scared him half to death, just seeing Nico's head floating in mid-air. He became horrible pale for a brief moment and then managed to say "umm...guys". He nudged Hazel with his elbow. Hazel looked up for a moment and then when back to her heated discussion with Reyna. After getting a few words out, she looked back in disbelief.  
"Nico?" She asked. Reyna cranked her head to see what Hazel was talking about. "How long have you been there?"  
Nico shrugged a little. "Only a few seconds. I just wanted check in, I guess."  
"Did you get my invitation?" Reyna asked, leaning forward a bit.  
"Yep. Sure did." He gave her a watered-down glare. Reyna returned him a sly smile. They were having a silent conversation that no one else understood.

Reyna, Hazel, and Frank started continuously bragged about the preparations for the feast. Sometimes while telling Nico about the feast, their ideas would conflict and they begin arguing.  
"We're still getting all the kinks worked out." Hazel apologized.  
"I can tell." Nico said. "Dont worry, it'll come together."  
"You're right Nico. The feast with my **_gold _**tablecloth will come together."  
Hazel glared at Reyna. "I think you meant **_purple_** tablecloth."  
They began their bickering again, arguing about tablecloths and colors. Frank sat there awkwardly, trying to find a median between their ideas, but he drowned out by the fighting.

Nico sat there and watched their arguing, somewhat entertained. Somehow, their arguing made him feel...happy. He was happy that they accepted him and actually talked to him. He was happy that talked openly around him instead of whispering behind his back, even of it meant bickering.  
Nico was jarred out of his thoughts, by an intense pounding on the door. Nico froze for a second, terrified. Oh god, what's happening. The pounding on the door continued, and even got louder. The constant hammering was already giving Nico a migraine. It looked like the door was about to give in. Should he answer it?

He silently tiptoed toward the pounding. He might've well open it. As long as it gets the awful hammering to stop. He slowly cracked the door open. Before he could even peek around the corner to see who was there, the door slammed open, pushing him aside.  
Jason walked in, piper following, and pointed at Nico. "You are sooooooooooo grounded."

Hazel, Reyna, and Frank fell silent as they watched what was happening through their misty little window into Nico's world. Nico was nothing but confused. "Wha-what?"

Jason Grace crossed his arms and started tapping his foot, his glasses sliding about halfway down his nose. "What did you forget to tell us?"

"Umm..." Nico swallowed nervously "I'm out of the infirmary by the way. And how can you even ground me? Will already grounded me from my powers. What else is there to ground me from? Plus, you're not even my parent."

"Dont you talk back to me, mister" Jason said.

"So," piper spoke finally. "Will told us he's joining you and Jason for dinner."

Nico felt his face start glowing red, probably still visable even in the darkness of his cabin.

"Oooooh, Nico's having dinner with Will?" Reyna teased through the iris message.

"Its not even a big deal! It's just dinner! It doesn't mean anything!" Nico lied to himself. He knew better. It meant something, though Nico wasn't sure what it meant. Nico wasn't even sure if Will liked Nico in the slightest. He might of just accepted to be polite. But Nico did know that dinner meant something to him.

"Whatever." Jason said. "Just know I'm watching you, Di Angelo."

Jason and Piper sauntered out the door, slamming it shut behind them.

Nico sighed in exasperation. He turned back to the iris message. "Sorry. I didn't really expect that to happen."

Frank and Hazel had disappeared, leaving Reyna alone.

"Where did Frank and Hazel go?" Nico eyed the iris message suspiciously.

"I asked them to step out for a minute because i need to talk to you. I couldn't put it in the letter. I was going to tell you at the feast, but then this opportunity presented itself." Reyna was suddenly very serious. Nico wasn't sure he liked the sound of it.

"Okay," Nico said. "Shoot."


	5. Chapter 5: Dinner with the Ghost King

Chapter 5: Dinner with the Ghost King  
"Something just doesn't seem right out here." Reyna said. "I'm serious. Somethings really really off. It's hard to describe, but I'm feeling very uneasy. I think something bad is going to happen."  
Oh great. Just as Nico was settling into Camp Half-Blood, just as Nico was starting to enjoy himself, something horrible had to happen. Sometimes, Nico really wished he wasn't a demigod.

"Is that why you called the feast? To have an excuse to tell me this in person?" Nico asked.

Reyna looked almost guilty. "Yeah, one of the reasons."

"Instead of just stopping by here or sending me an iris message or anything like that, you decided transporting a bunch of demigods, including Percy Jackson and Jason Grace, two of the strongest smelling Demigods on Earth, across country would be safer?" Nico was getting angry. He really didn't want to lose his temper, especially not at Reyna (she was, after all, one of his few friends), but there was no light way to put it; this idea was incredible dumb.

"I had many reasons to call the feast." Reyna replied with almost emotion. "You don't have to come if don't want to, but it won't be me you disappoint. All Hazel has been talking about is this feast and if you're not there for it, you'll upset her."

Nico denied the idea almost instantly. Hazel was stronger than that. "You don't know that."

"Yes, I do. I mean I _am_ a girl after all. And so is she. And I know that you also know that I'm right, but you just don't want to admit it." Reyna was not looking very happy at all.

Nico crossed his arms. "Look, I only have about five minutes before the iris message expires and I'm pretty sure I don't have another gold _drachma_, so could we wrap it up?"

"Just come to the feast and I'll fill you in on everything I know." Reyna's look of anger was replaced by something else. Nico wasn't sure what. Dismay? Stress? Sincerity? Fear?  
Nico wasn't sure he'd ever figure it out.  
"Why can't you just tell me now?"

"Because if I tell you now, you're going to try to use your powers and die and I don't think anyone would enjoy that much, especially your healer friend, Will. His name is Will, right?"

Nico rolled his eyes. "Yes, his name is Will Solace."

Nico heard a horn blow in the distance. Once, twice, three times. Nico had come to learn that that meant dinner. Oh gods. Nico felt his stomach start twisting knots. Anxiety started to build up. Nico just wanted to get dinner over with, not because he hated Will or anything ridiculous like that, simply because he was afraid he was going to terrible embarrass himself. Or that Jason was going to embarrass him. Oh gods. He hadn't even thought of that. Nico was starting to feel sick.

Reyna squinted at Nico. "Are you okay?"

"I really need to get to dinner. Ill get a hold of you later to interrogate you about what you know, okay?"

Reyna's sly smile returned, breaking all seriousness between them. "Okay. Have fun on your date with Will!"

"It's not a date!" Nico yelled, swiping his hand through the misty rainbow to dissolve it. The purple and gold image of somewhere at camp Jupiter faded away, leaving Nico's room once again dark. Nico took a few deep breathes to prepare himself (his heart rate was going higher than he ever thought it could).  
Somewhere he found the courage to step out the door and stride toward the dining pavilion.

...  
Will was already waiting at the dining pavilion When he saw a little black mess of hair heading up the hill. Will was utterly relived. He wasn't very comfortable sitting here with Jason squinting at him, inspecting him from across the table. Will had been playing with his beaded necklace (a nervous habit of his) for what seems like 10 minutes, which probably meant it had only been 2, but whatever.  
Will was beyond nervous. He was pretty much in full freak mode. What was he going to talk about? Maybe about his day in the infirmary. What if he bored Nico to death? With each new thought, the butterflies in Will's stomach seemed to grow in numbers.  
It seemed like forever before Nico actually got to the dining pavilion, got a plate, burned some offerings, and sat down. That gave Will plenty of times to think about all the bad things that could happen.

Here goes nothing.  
"Sooooo..." Wil began. "What'd you do after you got out of the imfirmary?"  
Nico shrugged, "not much, just iris messaged Hazel, Reyna, and Frank. What'd you do?"

Will shrugged back. "Stayed in the imfirmary, treated a few emergencies. You know that rock climbing wall is a real hazard. Fun to climb, not so fun when you get lava scorches."  
Nico smiled a little at Will. Will felt like he could melt into a puddle of happiness at any minute now.

Dinner passed by quick. Time flies when you're having fun. The conversation flowed easily, Jason even joining in, telling stories about Nico. Will had never been happier in his entire life. Overall, Will was relieved. He was so scared he was going to mess it up with Nico entirely.  
Before Will knew it, everyone was off to the campfire for a short sing-a-long to get everyone pumped up for capture the flag.  
That brought up a new question in Will's mind: Do they go their separate ways now or go to the campfire together? Will Nico even go to the campfire?

When Nico said "I guess we better get going to the sing-a-long now" Will's question was answered.  
They walked down a dark, nearly abandoned path to the campfire (most people had left already).  
Will's heart rate began to rise again and the butterflies returned for a second attack.  
Will didn't know what the possibilities of tonight were, but he knew he couldn't wait to find out.


	6. Chapter 6: Nico's Plan

Chapter 6: Nico's plan  
Will followed Nico's lead down dusty, dirty path. It seemed like the walk to the campfire was never ending. The white stars against the navy sky seemed more amazing than ever. The moon was the only source of light on the beaten path. To Will, this was more than romantic, it was pretty much perfect.  
Will wanted to send a prayer to Artemis. _Keep up the good work, gurl._

Will observed Nico as he talked. Wow, he used his hands a lot. Sometimes, Will had to ask questions to keep Nico talking, but otherwise, Nico spoke easily and freely. Will was impressed with how much Nico had changed in just over a week since he came back to camp. Nico wasn't as closed up as he used to be. He was still pretty closed up, but still, Will was proud of this little dork.  
Will looked at Nico and noticed they had gotten a lot closer together. They had started on pretty much opposite sides of the path and now they were side by side, pretty much touching. Will smiled. Thank gods Nico didn't hate him. Could tonight get any better?

Soon, Will heard the roar of a fire and lots of chatter. Slowly, the light of the the campfire washed over them as they got nearer. The bleachers surrounding the campfire came into view from behind some trees as they turned a corner.  
Wait, where would they sit?

Nico stopped for a second, he head looking back from one side of the bleachers to the other. Uniformed to be asking the same exact thing. Did Nico somehow read Will's mind?  
Suddenly out of the bleachers, a short, blonde girl came running toward them.  
"Whoa, Hanna, what's up?" Will said. Hanna came to a stop in front of Nico and Will. Will turned to Nico and said "This is one of my sisters, Hanna."  
Nico nodded at Hanna as Will turned back to her. She grabbed Wills wrist and said "come on, come sit down! One of your favorite songs is coming up."  
She started tugging Will toward the Apollo cabins spot in the bleachers.  
"Whoa! What about Nico?" Will yelled over the wind.  
"He can come too!" Hanna answered.  
Will looked back at motionless Nico, getting farther and farther away. "Come on!" He shouted back at him.  
Before Will knew it, he was in the bleachers, surrounded by his siblings, who were cheerfully singing a cheesy camp song. It wasn't long before Nico wove his way through all of Will's siblings (he had quite a few of them) and joined Will in the stands.  
Will could tell Death boy felt kind of out of place among the Apollo cabin. Nico stood there awkwardly, with his hands stuffed in his pockets, looking uncomfortable. Will decided he was going to break Nico's little protective shell. That was his new goal in life and he wasn't going to be satisfied until he achieved it. All Nico really needed was a confidence boost.

The campers leading the sing-a-long (more of Will's siblings and a few others) started singing Wills favorite camp song, a tune called "welcome to Delphi, may I please take your order?"

Will started singing, loudly and waaay out of tune, but confidently. After all, campfire songs weren't about sounding good, they were about having fun. Nico stared at Will, looking confused and maybe even slightly embarrassed.  
Will took a chance and put his arm around Nico's shoulder and started swaying to the song like others were doing. Will watched Nico's face turn redder than the sky at late sunset. Will was probably embarrassing Nico beyond belief, but he really didn't care. This was part of breaking his shell.

The campfire didn't last as long as it usually did to the camp time to play capture the flag. At one point, Percy and Piper snuck over to the Apollo cabin.  
"We want to make an alliance." Piper whispered to Will and Nico.  
"Sure, we're already teamed up with the Hermes cabin."  
"Well," Percy said. "Were already teamed up with Hephaestus."  
"Okay cool." Will Whispered back. Percy and Piper snuck back to wherever they came from.  
Will, being the counselor of the Apollo cabin, got to decide who his cabin would be teamed up with. Will had made an alliance with the Aphrodite cabin, the Poseidon cabin (A.K.A. Percy), the Hades cabin (A.K.A. Death dork), the Hephaestus cabin, and the Hermes cabin (he pulled a few favors for Conner and Travis he wasn't exactly proud of). He managed to team up with 2 of the big 3, which was pretty good.

On the other hand, this meant Will was up against the Ares cabin, the Athena cabin, the Zeus cabin (Otherwise known as Jason), The Hypnos cabin, The Dionysus Cabin, and the Iris cabin. In other words, things weren't looking too good. They were up against two war gods and the son of the king of everything.

Nico had left Will in order to get armored up, leaving Will with his siblings, still in the bleachers.  
As Nico walked off, Will yelled "don't you dare use your powers!"  
Most cabins were disbanding to go back to the Cabins to get ready for capture the flag. Will turned to his siblings.  
"Okay guys, after getting our butts kicked last week and most of the weeks before that, I think it's time to show that Ares cabin that they can get their butts kicked too!"  
Will swallowed hard. His cabin wasn't looking very encouraged. "Look, I'm not good at speeches, but let's go win this thing. We need to put the Ares cabin to shame!"  
His cabin gave a cheer and started jogging out of the bleachers. Some even started running. Will had had a good day so far and he wasn't going to let the Ares cabin (or anyone else ruin it.)

Will got armored up and lead his Cabin to the battle field. The Apollo cabin took their positions and waited for the horn to blow to signal the start. Will was in the middle of the woods, by himself, waiting for someone to accidentally stumble across him.

*CRACK*  
Wills thoughts were answered. He spun around, searching for the source of the sound.  
The horn went off. It had begun.  
Will saw a dark figure about 20 feet away and started running towards it. He couldn't tell if they were on his team or not, but he wasn't planning to hurt them anyway, just scare them away.

When will got about 5 feet from the figure, they put their hands up and said "whoa whoa, calm down, speedy."

"Nico?" Will asked.  
Will couldn't see Nico very well, but he knew he was rolling his eyes. "No, it's the _other_ son of Hades."

Will crossed his arms. "Well, _excuse_ me. It's dark. I'm not nocturnal like you."

Nico sighed. "Whatever. Let's go find someone to fight, so we can win."  
Wills mouth fell open. "You want to go pick a fight?"

"Will," Nico said sternly. "You're never going to when waiting for the action to come to you. That's why you keep losing."  
Will thought that over a minute and realized Nico was probably right. But tonight was going to be different. Will was going to win.  
Will crossed his arms and said "Fine, but I'm not going to like it."  
Nico gave Will a wicked grin and said "no one said you had to."


	7. Chapter 7: The Pegasus

Chapter 7: the Pegasus  
Nico was a fighting machine. Will, not so much. For the most part, all Will did was watch Nico takeout person after person. Will felt kind of useless, but at the same thing amused. Nico had spent almost a week without using his sword and still wasn't rusty. It was as if Nico thought his sword was an extension of his arm and he just felt like slapping people in the back of the head today. It seemed like Nico had some kind of connection with his sword or something. Will had a bow with him and a small knife for close combat, but they felt more like a decorations than weapons or even tools.  
Maybe that's why the Apollo cabin hadn't won capture the flag in ages. Because they wanted to win, but they didn't want to fight. Will cursed himself for being so peaceful.  
Nico tore through any crowd he faced, fighting his way to the point where Will could see the flag in the distance. Not far away, Percy and Piper were working as team to hold off a swarm of Athena's children, including Annabeth. Will and Nico were facing some Ares campers, but not too many for Nico to immobilize within a few minutes. They weren't really trying to be quiet, but luckily, Annabeth and the Athena campers hadn't noticed them.  
The flag was right there, maybe a football field away. Will stood there, awestruck. He hadn't expected to make it this far. He looked back and forth from the flag, to Nico, to the oblivious group of Athena campers.

Nico stared back at Will like he was crazy. "Why are you standing there?! Go!"  
"Oh yeah." Will said, reminded that his feet were supposed to move. He began running, at first trying to be somewhat quite, but as he got closer, he cared less. He was about 7 feet away from the flag when Jason Grace jumped out from behind a bush. Will was so close to the flag. He wasn't going to let Jason stop him. Jason had his sword out prepared to fight. Great. Because Will was _such_ a good fighter.  
Will stopped in his tracks, completely unsure of what to do. He was a healer, for Apollo's sake. He didn't want to hurt anyone.  
But Nico was right. He couldn't just stand there and then still expect to win. Will cursed himself when he pulled out his knife. He didn't want to do this, but Will was really really tired of being taunted by the Ares campers.  
"I'm sorry Jason." Will apologized, "but I'm not letting the Apollo cabin lose again. At least, not tonight."  
Jason held up his sword prepared to strike and Will acted like he was going to counterattack. Nope. Instead, Will kicked Jason in the back of the knee and pulled his leg out from under him. Will leaped over a very surprised Jason and went for the flag.

5 feet. 3 feet. 1 foot.  
Will picked up the flag and held it in the air with pride. "WE WON!" He screamed as loud as he could. He saw the Athena campers, Percy, and Piper all whip their heads around, oblivious that Will had even been near. Will felt so alive, so free. Or maybe that was just the adrenaline talking. Either way, Will felt good.  
Nico came jogging up to meet Will and did something totally unexpected. He pulled Will into an embrace and squeezed him. Will looked down and Nico was actually smiling, a genuine, sincere smile. Will felt his heart turn into pudding. Will was already smiling, but now his grin was so big, his face was starting to hurt. He was sure his face was as red as a tomato (his face felt as hot as a volcano), but Will really didn't care.

Nico pulled away as Percy, Piper, and the rest of their team came cheering towards them. Soon, Will and Nico were surrounded by tons of Smiling faces, including Will's sibling.  
People started swarming Will with compliments, but couldn't take credit. "Nico did most of the work! Thank him!"  
The crowd closed in around Will and Nico, sweeping them off their feet and carrying them on their shoulders. Everyone chanted the whole way back to the Cabins, even the losing team. Finally, after a long ride, they set them down the crowd started to dissolve, everyone tired and ready for bed.  
Will sighed, content with life. "Well, that was fun."  
"Yeah it tends to be fun when you actually play." Nico scoffed. But don't be confused. Nico wasn't anywhere near mad. He was still grinning from ear to ear.  
They just stood there and smiled at each other for a few seconds. To be completely honest, Will could've kissed Nico right then. He desperately wanted to, but he wouldn't let himself risk it.  
_But today was all about taking chances. Why not one more?_  
Will shook the thought out of his head. Maybe another day about taking chances, but not today.  
"Well, " Nico said finally, "I guess you better go to bed. I'm sure you'll have another busy day in the infirmary tomorrow."  
Will nodded slightly. "Yeah, you're right. Probably."  
Will and Nico slowly started to step away from each other, though it was pretty clear neither of them wanted to leave. Will took a few steps away, but then spun back around and said "Hey, Nico?"  
Nico's head whipped back to face Will after hearing his name. "Yeah?"  
Will was playing with his beaded necklace again, twisting and turning the middle bead between his fingers. "I have to go to the infirmary tomorrow, but I have the next day off. Do wanna hang out or something?"  
Nico's face lit up even more somehow. Nico then tried to mask the excitement Will had already seen on his face. "Yeah, I guess that'd be okay."  
They continued walking their separate ways. Will was tempted to look back at the short, Italian dork, but he didn't. At this point, Will just wanted to get back to his cabin, so he could freak out about how well tonight when.

Will might actually have a chance with Nico after all. It was clear that Nico didn't hate him, which was good, but did Nico see him as a friend or something more. Will wanted to find out so bad.  
Will was jarred out his blissful thoughts by one of his younger brothers running towards him. "Will! Will!" He yelled with urgency.  
"Hayden!?" Will yelled back, knowing something was up. "What's wrong?"

The boy came to a halt in front of Will, still catching his breath. "Will...one of...the Pegasi...is..dying."  
Wills jaw dropped. "What? Where?"  
Hayden was still breathing hard, but managed to get out the words "the stables"  
Will took off running full speed toward the stables. He wasn't much of a vet, but there has to be something he could do.  
Will ran through the open stable doors, dropping to his knees at the Pegasus's side. The Pegasus was lying in the middle of the hay in the stables, clearly in pain. There were already a few of Will's siblings there and the owner of the Pegasus, a girl from the Aphrodite cabin.

Will quickly went to work, his hands flying. Nothing he tried was working. He tried ambrosia and nectar. Nope. He couldn't even figure out why the Pegasus was dying. He couldn't figure out what was wrong.  
After trying to save the Pegasus for nearly an hour with no luck, Will knew this Pegasus just wasn't going to be saved.  
He turned to the Aphrodite camper (he was pretty sure her name was Beth) and told her the bad news. The look on her face broke his heart. She started sobbing, hugging her Pegasus tightly. Will felt horrible, but there was nothing he could do.  
Will walked out of the stables into the light drizzle that had settled over camp. Will had had such a long day. He need some sleep.


	8. Chapter 8: The Curse

Chapter 8: The Curse

Nico walked through the disbanding crowd of campers, all chatting happily after the events of the night. Pretty much everyone was happy, you know, except the Ares campers who had not accepted their defeat. Even Nico was still smiling.  
Nico tried to look over the heads of the crowd but most people were too tall for Nico to see over. Nico suddenly felt really, really short. Finally, he spotted the person he was looking for.  
Jason Grace limped among the crowd still retreating from the woods, chatting happily to Piper. Nico weaved his way through the crowd to get to him.  
"Hey Jason, I have two questions." Nico said. "First, why are you limping?"  
Jason grinned. "I was just talking to Piper about that actually. Your boyfriend did quite the number on the back of my knee."  
Nico felt his face turn scarlet. "No. He's not my boyfriend. Don't even say that."  
Piper objected by saying "but you want him to be."

Nico felt the urge to kick Piper in the shin, but he decided against it last minute. He also wanted to deny it, but there was no lying about this kind of stuff to a daughter of Aphrodite. Instead, she received a life-threatening glare.  
"You didn't deny it." Jason's grin changed to be wicked, but only to a slight degree. "Oh, don't worry, Neeks, I'll have a talk with him tomorrow."  
Nico groaned in agony. "First off, don't _ever_ call me that again. Second off, no, you won't. Third off, can I just ask you my second question now?"  
Piper was smiling too now. "You're trying to change the subject."  
Nico decided it was just best to ignore them. "So, Jason, you know how you always have drachmas? Well, I need a few."  
"What for?" Jason raised his eyebrow with curiosity.  
Nico wasn't sure if he could tell anyone else. Reyna made it seem like Nico was the only person she told. She made Hazel and Frank leave the room when she told him, which they didn't even know.  
"I've got to make a few calls." Nico tried to keep it vague and boring.  
Jason shook his head. "You know what? I don't even want to know what that means." Jason dug a few golden coins out his pockets and dropped them into Nico's hands. "Here you go. Don't spend it all in one place. Night Nico, see you at breakfast."

"See ya." Nico said as Piper and Jason strode off to who knows where.  
Nico searched for ages for someplace to send an iris message (the camp store was closed), but couldn't find one, except maybe the Iris cabin, but he didn't think they'd like him intruding at 11:30 at night.

Finally, with reluctance, Nico decided he'd just have to send it first thing tomorrow morning, when the camp store opened.  
Somehow, Nico's mood still hadn't been dampened yet. He laid down in his black coffin-like bed and smiled at the ceiling. Nico was sure this was the first time he had smiled while laying in his coffin bed, maybe the first time he had smiled in his cabin. For the first time in a very long time, Nico felt genuinely happy.

The next morning, Nico woke up and sleepily got dressed. What time was it? 6? 7?  
Nico was sure breakfast hadn't passed yet, so it must've been before 8. Ugh, Nico hated mornings. Nico stumbled out the door, half asleep, and shielded his eyes from the blinding light. Nico stood there, letting his eyes adjust for a minute.  
Nico went off to the camp store to get a bottle of Iris's Rainbow, not even waiting for the clerk to pay attention to him. He practically threw the coin onto the counter.

Nico went back to his cabin and sat down on the floor. He twisted off the plastic bottle cap and let the mist float out of the bottle. Finally, the mist settled and a small rainbow appeared. Nico tossed the drachma into the rainbow and said "Show me Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano."  
The mist shimmered to a new image. It was a dark room filled with bunks. In the center of the picture was praetor Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, snoring, sound asleep, her dogs sleeping not far from her bed.  
"Reyna!" Nico whispered-yelled. Nico was surprised when Reyna came out of her coma.  
"Nico, it's 4 in the morning here. Go away." Reyna said, sitting up but still half asleep. Under other circumstances, Nico might have laughed at Reyna's hair which was sticking out in just about every direction, but this seemed like it was some pretty serious business.  
"I told you I was going to interrogate you."  
Reyna glared to the best of her ability while half asleep. "You said later, Not 4 in the morning."  
"Well, it's later." Nico said blandly. He felt bad for waking Reyna up, but it was better he talked to her when no was around. Or at least, no one awake.  
Reyna got up and poked at the iris message. "Is there a way to move it?"  
"Move it?" Nico had never thought of that. "I'm not sure." Was there a way to move it?  
A look of deep concentration formed on Reyna's face as she tried to wrap her hands gently around the silver mist. She picked it up and started carrying it around.

Nico was completely bewildered. "How did that even work?"  
"Nico," Reyna said sternly. "We live in a world full of monsters and gods and goddesses and a whole bunch of unrealistic things, and this is what you choose to question? That was probably the most normal thing I've done in a long time. I flew across the Atlantic on a pegasus, for Bellona's sake."  
Reyna had a good point. Nico couldn't argue with that.

Nico watched as Reyna carried the Iris Message outside. There were still stars in the sky. The first lights of dawn hadn't even emerged from the horizon yet. It was the polar opposite of what it was like on Long Island. Reyna shivered as a night breeze flowed lazily through the Californian fields.  
"Okay," Reyna said, very serious. "Let's get down to business."

Reyna told Nico about what had been happening since she had returned home. In short, things had been dying, randomly, with practically no cause of death. The creatures dying were slowly going up in size. Reyna was scared that soon, there would be demigod lives taken.

Reyna said she didn't think it was a plague or a disease, or else it would probably also affect the mortals living around them. Reyna was sure it had something to do with the gods, specifically, Nico's dad, being the God of the dead.  
Nico cursed at the gods. Always causing drama. They had just gotten through with a war and the gods couldn't relax for more than a week?

Nico was furious at Reyna. She had waited _this_ long to tell him when there were lives on the line? At the rate the deaths were going, who knew when the first demigod was going to die. It could be next week. It could be tomorrow. "I need to get to California now." Nico said coldly.

"Nico," Reyna said. "It takes _**at least**_ 2 days to get here by car. And don't even _think_ about shadow traveling here. You can't help if you're dead."

"Why did you wait this long to tell me?!" Nico shouted. Nico could feel his powers at the tip of his fingers. He almost always lost control of his powers when he was upset. He was trying to control his temper, but it was a difficult task. He couldn't allow himself to slip up.  
Reyna was starting to shout too. "Because I knew you'd react like this and try to use your powers so you can help, but using your powers won't help, because it will kill you!"

Nico took a few seconds to breathe. He had to calm down. He had to. "Look," Nico said as calmly as he could. "Send the cars for the feast first thing morning. Ill tell the others to be ready to leave on Tuesday. Tell them to take the minimal amount of stops possible. Ill see you in 4 days."  
Nico swiped his hand through the sparkling mist, leaving his cabin lonely again.

...  
Nico was sure it was almost time for breakfast. Nico wasn't much of a breakfast person, but he knew Will would kill him if he skipped.  
Nico arrived in the surprising noisy dining pavilion to find a sleeping Will Solace at the Zeus table, his face in his food. Nico send a questioning look to Jason, who wasn't far away. Jason shrugged.  
"He's basically been like that since I got here. He woke up once when I sat down, asked if you were here yet, and then went back to sleep. I haven't even be able to give him the talk yet."

Nico sighed. He was pretty much done with life. "Okay, Jason, look at me. You _are not _giving him a talk, okay?" Nico said, as he set his plate down. He shook the sleeping nerd awake. Will jolted up with a start.  
"Whoa!" Will said with surprise. Will sat back down at the table and began to wipe whipped cream off his face. "Oh, you're finally here."

Will didn't look like he was having a good day either. He had big purple bags under his eyes that weren't there before, like he had gotten little sleep.

"Nice to see you too. What happened?" Nico asked.  
Will leaned his head on his elbow. "The was a pegasus in the stables last night and I stayed up for what seemed like hours, trying to heal it. It completely drained me. In the end, there was no saving it though."Will shook his head sadly. "The oddest part was, it just started dying. I couldn't even find anything wrong with it."  
Nico, who had sat down and was in the midst of biting into a piece of a blueberry waffle, nearly choked to death when will said that.  
_Oh gods_. Nico thought. _It's not just happening at camp Jupiter. It's starting here too._


	9. Chapter 9: The Bad Day

**Hey, this is Klyonsm2. I'm sorry it took so long to update, but the past few days have been incredible chaotic. I've been meaning to post since, like, 2 days ago, but I literally just finished the chapter. Hope you like it!**

Chapter 9: The bad day

Will was vaguely aware of the conversation going on between Nico and Jason. Will sat up the breakfast table, trying desperately trying to at least _look_ awake.

"Wait. Tuesday? I thought we were leaving Saturday." Jason sat, not far down the table, absolutely confused.

"The plan changed. " Nico said, almost emotionless. "I talked to Reyna this morning. The SUVs are leaving today to come pick us up. It's going to take them 2 days, more or less, to get here. "

That didn't put Jason's curiosity to rest. "But why? Did something happen? Why did the plan change?"

"We decided to change it so that you guys will have more time in New Rome. I figured you'd want to have time to build a few shines." Nico shrugged casually.

Jason wasn't buying it. "Okay, but what's the _real_ reason?"  
Nico avoided Jason's question and continued. "Tell the others so they have time to pack. They need to warn their cabins they'll be leaving early. Ill talk to Chiron."

Jason tried to start asking questions again but Nico was ignoring him at this point.  
"So Will, " Nico practically shouted over Jason, attracting the stares of a few other campers at other tables. "Anything interesting happen in the infirmary today?"  
Will furrowed his brow. "I haven't even gone into the infirmary yet today. It's breakfast."

Will knew that Nico was just trying to change the topic of conversation and couldn't think of anything better at the top of his head. Will also knew that Nico wanted Will to carry on the conversation with him as in attempt to drown out Jason. Above all, Will knew Nico was hiding something. It was painfully obvious. At least when Nico usually kept secrets, he was good at hiding them, but being confronted about it by Jason had thrown him off. Whatever it was, Nico _really really_ didn't want to talk about it, at least, not to Jason.  
"So, what are you planning on doing today?" Will asked Nico, trying to save him from having to tell Jason.

Will didn't like secrets all too much, but he wasn't going to make Nico tell Jason if he didn't want to. Will felt bad for helping Nico in an attempt to ignore Jason, but if Nico wanted Jason to know, he would tell him. Heck, Will didn't even know.  
Nico shrugged and said "I guess I might do some training, probably sword fighting. I might pack a little after that."  
"Oh, that's good I guess." Will said sounding a bit bitter. Will wasn't quite sure why, but a cool wave of sadness washed over him. Maybe it was because Will was a bit moody because he had barely gotten any sleep. Or maybe it was because Nico was leaving for New Rome in 2 days without him.  
Suddenly, Will felt incredibly selfish. He wasn't entitled to go to New Rome with Nico. Nico hadn't even invited him. Nico had barely even talked to Will about it. Maybe Nico really didn't want Will to go. Maybe Nico was going in an attempt to escape Will's annoying-ness (Will was almost positive that after all the bossing around Will did, Nico found Will incredibly annoying).  
Will felt stupid and foolish to think that anything good was going to happen between Nico and him after last night. He felt stupid for even considering kissing Nico, when Nico probably thought Will was pushy.

Nico looked shocked that Will suddenly sounded so upset. Will looked at his watch. 8:30 am.  
He should really be getting to the infirmary. Camp activities would be starting in just a few minutes and there were plenty of accidents to be had. It's not like there was any shortage of hazardous stuff at this camp.  
"Well, " Will said before Nico could think of how to respond, "I need to be going to the infirmary now. There's plenty of stuff to do before people start hurting themselves."  
Will gathered his stuff and began walking toward the infirmary. He wanted to just walk away, but he forced himself to stop and say bye to Nico and Jason. Just because he was upset didn't mean he had to be rude.

The day in the infirmary was slow and painfully boring. The Stolls sat there and whined about all the pranks they could be pulling. Lou Ellen's medicine kept her knocked out pretty much all day. Will tried to bury himself in his work, but it was hard to concentrate. Will could barely keep his eyes open, much less control his emotions or, gods forbid, focus.  
The Stolls picked up on Will's moodiness and tried to cheer him up by telling Will tales of pranks past, but Will wasn't up for it.  
"I don't think I've ever actually seen a child of Apollo frown before." Conner whispered to Travis as Will was walking away, as if Will couldn't hear them  
"Me neither." Travis whispered back.  
Conner leaned closer toward Travis and tried to whisper more quietly. "Do you think it has something to do with Di Angelo?"  
Travis thought about it for a moment then leaned over to the same degree and said "yeah."

"You know, you two would live a lot longer if you would keep your mouths shut. Trust me, I'm a doctor." Will snapped.  
The Stolls gaped in silent awe.  
Will took in the moment. The stolls were actually speechless for probably the first time in history. It was music to Will's ears.

After several exhausting hours, Will was finally done with his shift at the infirmary. Will went straight to dinner, which was just beginning. Will sat with his cabin, partially because he felt bad for leaving them the past 2 meals, partially because a portion of him was still cross with Mr. Di Angelo. Will still felt incredibly selfish for being upset about something like that, but that didn't change the fact that he felt hurt. He felt hurt because Nico hadn't even considered asking him to go too. In a way, he felt abandoned, like he wasn't part of some kind of club. He felt like he wasn't one of the few people Nico Di Angelo cared about.  
_Why should I be?_ Will internally scolded himself.

Dinner passed miserably slow. He couldn't help but to steal glances over at Nico, who was sitting at the Zeus table, having a quiet conversation with Jason. Will swore he caught Nico staring at him sometimes when he looked over, but Will was so tired, it could've just been the mist playing tricks on him.  
Whatever Nico was talking to Jason about, Nico wore a constant look of concern, and that concerned Will. Will desperately tried to ignore Nico, as if he wasn't even in the dining pavilion, and tried to concentrate on the discussion his siblings were having. Something about discus going horribly wrong.  
The whole ignoring Nico plan wasn't going very well.

...  
Nico was worried about Will's health. He was shocked by how the roles had reversed. Just yesterday morning, Will was fretting over Nico and his health. Now, Nico sat across the table from Jason, unable to fight the urge to look at the Apollo table, where Will sat.

Nico was sure something was wrong. Well, in Nico's life, there was always something wrong, but this was different. Will was a generally happy person, so his bitterness that morning at breakfast had thrown Nico off. Now, Will had abandoned Nico and Jason to sit with his siblings, which Nico wasn't mad about, but he found it unlike Will. Will loved his siblings, but if everything was okay, Will would have at least warned Nico he was sitting else where.  
Finally, halfway through dinner, Jason confronted him. "Okay, what happened with Will?"

"Nothing." Nico tried to brush it off, but Nico was sure he wasn't going to pull the wool over Jason's eyes.

"Okay," Nico said finally. "I'm not entirely sure what's wrong. Yesterday, Will was my best friend. Today, he's barely been talking to me."  
Jason fake gasped and put his hand on his chest, as if Nico had hurt his heart. "_I'm_ not your best friend?"

"Shut up Jason."

Jason shrugged. "I'm just trying to lighten the mood. So, what did you do?"

Nico sighed in defeat. "I don't know. There's a lot of reasons that could've lead to Will being mad at me, I just don't know which one."

"Ah, boyfriend troub- OWW." Jason groaned as Nico kicked him in the shin.  
"Look," Jason said, rubbing his leg. "I'm no expert, but why don't you just ask him?"  
Nico wanted to ask Jason if he had gone insane, but after thinking it over, Nico actually thought it was an okay idea. More of a plan than anything Nico had.

...Later...  
Nico tiptoed up to the Apollo cabin. He wasn't sure why he was trying to be sneaky. He wasn't breaking any rules. It was before curfew. He was allowed to go to other people's cabin. Why was he acting like he was a villain?  
He stood at the front door of the Apollo cabin, foolishly hoping no one was home, even though he knew the cabin was filled with probably 2 dozen or so children. He could feel his heart starting to pound. He managed to get himself to knock on the door. It seemed like forever before someone answered the door. Nico recognized the girl who answered the door as Kayla, one of Will's siblings.  
"Ill get him." She said before Nico had even said anything. "WILL!" she yelled loud enough for half of camp to hear. Nico heard a series of loud crashes and a lot of cursing from Will Solace before, finally, Will appeared at the door. He had a slight scowl until he saw Nico, his expression becoming more neutral.

No one spoke until Kayla had retreated into the cabin and shut the door. Nico was staring at his shoe laces. His heart was going insanely fast and he felt his face slowly starting to turn red for no reason.  
"Wanna go for a walk?" Nico shrugged. Nico wanted to cringe at his own awkwardness.

Will shrugged back. "Sure."

The walk to the place was even more awkward. There was dead silent. Finally, Nico saw a spot that would be good for talking. It was a small cliff over looking the long island sound, illuminated by Artemis's sleigh (A.K.A. the moon). It was far away from the cabins and hopefully no one would stumble upon them.  
Nico wasn't really into heart felt confessions, but this wasn't the first time he'd just have to deal with it. He just hoped this one would be way less painful than the last one he had with Jason when Nico was still on Argo II.  
Nico sat on a grassy patch by the edge of the cliff. Will followed his example, though there was a large gap between Will and Nico that Nico really didn't like. He wanted to scoot closer but he didn't want to scare Will away.  
"So," Nico tried to sound casual, but his heart was beating in his throat. "What's wrong?"  
Will put on an ill disguised fake look of shock. "Nothing's wrong."  
Nico looked Will in the eyes and said "Will, do you really think I'm that stupid?"  
Will sighed, knowing he'd have to come clean.  
"I don't know. My emotions are just kind of everywhere. I was already depressed about not being able to save that Pegasus."  
"And?" Nico probed.  
Will shrugged, slumping his shoulders. "Well, you and the seven and coach hedge are leaving for New Rome in two days and then I'll be stuck here by myself again."

"You'll always have your siblings." Nico suggested.

"Yeah, i guess." Will agreed. "But after being stuck in the infirmary and with my siblings for so many years, I just want to get out into the world for a while. I know a vacation is a wistful thought for a demigod, but...I don't know."

Nico took that in for a moment. Will wanted to go to New Rome with Nico. "Will, I want you to go to New Rome too, but I don't think you understand. It's going to be dangerous and I don't want to be responsible for your death."  
It was clear Will didn't believe him. "A _feast_ is going to be dangerous?"

Nico knew he was going to have to tell Will what Reyna had said in order for Will to understand. Nico really needed Will to understand that it wasn't because Nico hated him, it was because he wanted to protect him.

Nico explained what was happening. He explained the random deaths and the trouble brewing.  
"So the Pegasus dying wasn't my fault." Will said finally.  
Nico nodded. Some of the light returned to Will's eyes.

Will continued, still thinking about what Nico had just said. "I still want to go."

"You can't go." Nico some how stated and pleaded at the same time. Nico knew a few things. He knew Will was stubborn (extremely stubborn). And he knew that he probably wasn't going to change Will's mind. But he also knew he had to at least try to.  
"It's not safe to go. If it comes down to it, you're inexperienced at fighting. You'll get yourself killed."

"I'm a big boy. I can handle myself." Will objected.

"Why can't you understand that you can't go!" Nico argued too loud. "If you go and something happens to you, how am I supposed to live with myself? I can't let someone else close to me die!"

"Why can't _you_ understand," Will was yelling too now. "that if you leave and do something stupid, like using your powers, and get yourself killed, i'll live with the guilt of not being able to stop you! Why can't you understand that I don't want this to be one of the last times I see you!"  
"It won't be!" Nico tried to reassure Will, but Will wasn't having any of it.

"Nico, you know better than anyone that that's a lie! You're the son of Hades! Look, I know you want to be noble, but you're being a real hypocrite. You sit here, telling me I can't do something because it would put me in danger, but you're in more danger going alone! I want to save the world as much as you do, but I can't do it if you won't let me! You said it yourself. You can't win by just sitting there. " Will screamed finally, utterly upset.

Will was right. Nico couldn't tell Will to stay here while Nico did all the hero work. Will was also right that Nico was probably in more danger going without him. With Will not around, Nico was more likely to take the chance of using his powers.  
Nico was silent for a minute or so. At last, he calmly said "you're right."

Will, who had been ready to continue arguing, was taken back. Will rarely won their arguments. "Does that mean you're going to let me go?" Will half-whispered.

Nico sighed. "All I can say is, you've been warned. If I were you, I'd get packing. We're leaving Tuesday, as soon as our ride gets here."

"Yes, sir!" Will joked, grinning.


	10. Chapter 10: The Talk

**Just so you guys know, I love getting reviews and messages from you guys (And I actually do read them). If you have any ideas or headcanon or anything, feel free to send them my way. (Also, happy 10th chapter!) ****\- Klyonsm2**

Chapter 10: The "Talk"  
Will was already packed and ready to roll out when Nico Di Angelo knocked on the Apollo cabin door.  
"Reyna said the drivers reported that they're almost here, maybe half an hour away. You ready?" Nico said upon Will answering the door.

"Yep," Will chimed. "Just let me do my checklist and go through the rules with my cabin once more."

One of Will's siblings groaned. "Will, we've been over the rules 7 times already!"

"Well, we're going to go over them 8 times, okay Kyle?" Will then turned to Nico and said "i'll meet you at Half-Blood Hill in 5 minutes."  
Nico nodded silently and strode away. Will spun, facing his cabin.  
"Okay, guys I'm going to be gone for probably a week or so. Kayla, you're in charge. Josh, you're second in command. All of you will go to Kayla or Josh if you have a problem, unless you _are_ Kayla or Josh. Then, I don't know what to tell you. Go to Chiron or something."

"You all know the camp rules." Will continued, "no two people from two different cabins should be alone together, at all."

"But you were were alone with Nico 2 nights ago. For _hours_." Hana teased.

All the blood in Will's body started to rush into his cheeks. "That's different."

Kayla raised an eyebrow and said "are you really sure?"

"Anyway," Will continued on with his speech. "No explosives or Greek fire in or near the cabin. No fighting in or near the cabin. No cursing other cabins. No food in the cabin. Don't you guys really want animals in here? No staying out after curfew. No loud music or noises past curfew. And lastly, I beg you guys, don't listen to the stolls."  
Will checked to his bags to make sure had everything, got hugs from all of his siblings, and then started toward the door. He stopped and said "I don't want to hear any bad reports, okay? Be good. Have fun!"

Will heard Kyle whisper under his breath "We all know that _you're_ going to have fun with Nico" , followed by snickering throughout the cabin.  
"Ha. ha." Will said, "so funny. Kayla, give Kyle extra infirmary duty."  
"Sure thing." Kayla said, still laughing.

Will took in the sight of his cabin and his siblings one more time. "See you guys later."

Half-Blood Hill wasn't as crowded as crowded as it should've been. Yeah, there were only 9 people going on the trip, but only 4 of them were there. Will, Nico, Jason, and Annabeth. According to Annabeth and Jason, Percy and Piper were just now packing. Coach hedge and family were running late, trying to get out their front door.

Jason and annabeth were immersed in conversation, something about minor gods and goddesses. Thank gods. Will liked Annabeth and Jason, but he was afraid they might decide they hate him and tell Nico to stay away. Yes, it was a wild, worst case scenario and it would be likely that if it did happen, Nico wouldn't listen to them, but it was still enough to scare Will.

Nico and Will sat next to each in a patch of grass on the side of Half Blood Hill. And by next to each other, Will meant _right next to each other_. Part of their legs were touching. Nico wasn't pulling away into his secluded ball of darkness. The inch or so of skin where they were touching felt electrified.

Nico was his best friend. Will had lots of other _friends_ but A lot of them only bothered to talk to him when they were in the infirmary. Others were good friends, like Lou Ellen, but this was different. Will was becoming closer to Nico in a few days than he was with Lou Ellen after a few years.  
Will and Nico had spent pretty much the entire day together the previous day and Will was feeling more connected to Nico than he ever had. He actually witnessed Nico laugh a genuine laugh. It was a once in the lifetime experience.  
Will also noticed Nico was opening up a lot more to him. Will hadn't been concentrating very hard on breaking Nico's shell the past few days, but it seemed like he was doing it without trying.

Nico started telling Will about camp Jupiter and the customs of the Roman camp. Will found it weird that they weren't divided by siblings, they were "cohorts" (Will had never heard that word before in his life). Will imagine being someone's half brother and never even talking to them. The thought was too strange.

"So, Demigods can live in the city and go to college and actually live safely? Does such a thing really exist?" Will was completely bewildered.  
Nico nodded. "Yep. Seems too good to be true, doesn't it?"  
"I can't even begin to comprehend it." Will laughed. "A demigod community. A safe life. I feel like I'm going to get a headache just thinking about it."

Will and Nico were in fluid conversation by the time the SUVs arrive. It seemed like they had been waiting there for nearly an hour. Will didn't mind too much though. He was enjoying every minute he spent with Nico.  
By the time the cars arrived, Nico was wearing a wide grin. Will mentally patted himself on the back. Making Nico happy made _him_ happy. It was that simple.

There were 3 black SUVs, all with 7 seats. Each SUV had 3 Romans in it, who took turns driving/sleeping. There were a few Romans Will recognized, but not many. Will had kind of been hoping Hazel and Frank would have came, but he realized they probably didn't have their driver's licenses yet, so them coming would be useful only for taking up room.  
The first car was declared by coach Hedge and family, coach hedge taking the passenger seat and kicking the 2 extra Romans to the back of the car. Piper, Jason, Percy, and Annabeth all silently agreed the second car was theirs.  
"I want to come sit in your car," Jason was half apologetic, "but Pipes wants to sit by Annabeth. Happy girlfriend, happy life."

Will wanted to say "well, I wouldn't know much about that" But he resisted the urge. A smile spread across his face at the thought.

Jason smiled an evil grin. "Hey Nico, can I borrow him for a minute?"

"No!" Nico said. "Jason, don't you dare!"  
Will was scared for his life as Jason ignored Nico and dragged him by the arm towards the woods. Oh gods. Will prayed to Apollo that Jason didn't have any weapons. He wasn't ready to die.

Finally the pulling stopped.  
"So," Jason said, trying to sound casual. "You and Nico have been getting pretty close."  
"Yeah." Will whimpered. His voice was cracking. Curse puberty.

Jason looked Will in the eyes. "I'm just warning you, Will. I think you're nice, but you better hope that you don't even get close to hurting Nico. Unless, of course, you want some of the most powerful demigods alive out for your head. Do you understand?"

Will nodded, petrified. Now, Will wished Jason had brought him here to kill him. He felt like he was ready to die of not only embarrassment, but also fear.

"Good." Jason said. He patted Will on the back. "Nice talk. Now, remember, if you break Nico's heart, that's not the only thing that's going to get broken."

Will and Jason walked awkwardly back to Half Blood Hill. Will felt about 30 shades paler. When they emerged back onto the hilltop, Will noticed Nico had his head in his hands, shaking his head, mortified.

Jason parted and walked toward the middle car, waving goodbye to Nico and Will. "Have fun you two!"

Nico lifted his scarlet red face out of his hands, grimacing. "Do I even want to ask what he talked to you about?"  
Will shook his head. "I don't want to talk about it."

Everyone shuffled into the SUVs and prepared for a unbearably long trip. The vehicle hummed to life and idled for a minute, waiting for its sister cars to leave first. The car started to pull away, slowly hiding Camp Half Blood from view behind the hill. Will savored the scene of the camp one last time. It was just lunch time and the campers were starting to gather around the dining pavilion. He smiled at the view through the back window until he couldn't see it anymore.


	11. Chapter 11: Fearful

Chapter 11: Fearful  
Nico looked out the window of the SUV. Beyond the dimly lit car, it was nearly pitch black. It was past 1 in the morning and they had been traveling for nearly 13 and a half hours.  
The SUV had 7 seats; 2 in front, 2 in the middle, and a large bench seat in the back, meant for 3 people. Naturally, Will and Nico had taken over the back seat, even if there was less leg room.  
Though, there were 3 seats in back and there very well could have been a seat between Nico and Will, Will had chosen to seat right in the middle, next to Nico. If it were anyone else, Nico would have scooted toward the wall of the car, as far away as possible, but this was Will. Nico actually felt comfortable near Will now. Nico actually had a friend, a best friend to be exact.

Nico then reminded himself of his utterly obvious feelings for the stubborn son of Apollo. Nico's emotions were more conflicted than ever.  
On one hand, he was sick and tired of living in secrecy and just wanted to tell Will about his feelings and then figure out what to do from there.  
On the other hand, Nico was absolutely terrified of Will's reaction. What if Will didn't even like guys? What if Will just wanted to be friends and thought the idea of being anything more appalling?  
The longer Nico thought about it, the more unruly Nico's stomach felt. He thought he would soon have to have the car pull over so he could puke. Nico was desperate to think about something else, anything else.

He forced his mind to change topic, but no matter how many times he tried to think about anything else, it always circled back around to the sleeping (snoring) blonde next to him. He cursed at himself and just about everything else. Will, the gods, fate. If Nico's head had been censored, you would hear nothing but Bleeps.

He wanted to curse at Reyna and tell himself he wasn't enjoying the trip, being this close to Will, but no matters how many times he lied to himself, it didn't make it anymore believable. Half of him wanted to smile. The other half wanted to scream.

Why did fate pick _him_ to be abnormal? Why did fate decide _he_ had to be an outcast in every way he could? Nico felt the urge to get out his anger but going and beating up a wall somewhere, but he was stuck in a car. A small, enclosed car (the SUV wasn't near small, but by car standards, but it felt like it to Nico).

Nico felt like he was going to go insane if he didn't get to get out of this car for a while. Gods, Nico really hated road trips. The last long road trip he had taken had been from the Lotus casino to his old boarding school in Maine (unless you count the little time Nico spend on Argo II, but that was a boat and at least Nico got to walk around). That road trip was horrible, but still, nothing compared to this one. This one was pure torture, being this close to Will solace and still not being able to tell Will how he felt.

_I'm such a coward._ Nico said to himself miserably. Nico had already gone through this whole keep-my-crush-a-secret thing once. He really didn't want to do it again. But he still could barely work up the courage to _hug_ Will, much less the courage to tell Will how he felt.

Nico had been to tartarus and back. Somehow, this was worse.  
_Wait_. Nico thought.  
He'd been to tartarus and back. He had been through countless battles and horrible places he never wanted to speak of again. He had faced the titan Lord himself.

He could do this. He _would_ do this.

...

Nico didn't wake up until someone said "Hey, we're stopping at McDonald's."  
It was a grinning Will, shaking Nico by the shoulder. His grip didn't really hurt, but gods, it was firm. Nico could barely open his eyes. The morning sun was a blinding white. _How did the Apollo kids tolerate this kind of light?_

"McDonald's?" Nico asked sleepily.  
Nico had mixed feelings about the fast food restaurant.

the food was good and cheap. Nico was convinced the fries were made of pure gold. Plus, when he was running low on mortal money, it was budget friendly.

Still, the restaurant brought back bad memories from his past. Nico still shuddered in embarrassment about how foolish he was, using McDonald's to summon spirits. He never wanted to think about that time in his life ever again. He certainly wasn't about to speak of it. If Will was to ever hear about younger Nico, Nico was more than prepared to bury himself in a hole and never come out.  
"Yep." Will practically sang. Nico didn't really understand how this boy could just _wake up _in a good mood.  
Nico tried to respond but his brain decided it wasn't time to wake up yet. Soon, he felt Will shaking him again, saying Nico's name louder this time in an attempt to wake him up.  
Nico feebly tried to seat Will away. "I'll be in in a minute."

Nico couldn't see Will, but he had a feeling in his gut that Will was rolling his eyes. "Yeah right. By a minute, do you mean an hour? Get the heck up."

Nico forced his eyes open. "Ooooooo, you said the word Heck." He mocked sarcastically. "You're such a rebel, Will Solace."

Will crossed his arms, not looking very happy, but not truly upset. "_I'm_ going outside. _You_ can sit here in the cramped car if you want."

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Nico muttered.

Nico had no idea where they were. It had been almost 21 hours since they left Camp Half Blood, so Nico assumed they had to be a decent distance from New York. Then again, considering how many stops they had made, they couldn't be _too_ far. Indiana? Maybe even Illinois?  
Gods, this trip was going to take forever.

By the time Nico got inside, Will was talking with Percy, which was surprising. Nico was sure it couldn't be good, at least not for him. Nico had always been paranoid that people talked about him behind his back, and thinking of Will and Percy talking was terrifying. He could only imagine the conversation.  
_Hey_, imaginary Percy said to imaginary Will, _did you know Nico is gay?_

_No, I did not_. Imaginary Will responded.

_Well he is. And he had a crush on me. _Imaginary Percy practically screamed.

Imaginary Will looked shocked. _Oh golly molly!_

_You better watch out._ Imaginary Percy said with imaginary seriousness. _He might have a crush on you next._

Okay, maybe Nico's idea of what would happen was a bit exaggerated, but that didn't take away it's scary reality. It could happen.

Nico knew fear was powerful, but he didn't know it was _this_ powerful. It was souring Nico's perception of everyone around him, making Nico think everyone he knew was a jerk basically. Fear was making him lose trust in his allies, his friends. All of this because Nico was gay.

_This has gone on too long_. Nico thought to himself.  
...

Will was sitting in a booth at McDonald's, slurping his cup of sweet tea. He was desperately trying to concentrate on what Percy was saying. Will was surprised he found himself distracted at all, considering Percy was on the other side of the booth, waving his arms around while he talk. Will knew Percy was just trying to help Will picture the scene, but to honest, Will had to keep himself from laughing.

Occasionally, Will would find himself staring at the half-awake son of Hades, standing by the counter. His head was practically looking straight up to see the menu. Will couldn't help but grin about how short Nico was. Nico was approximately only half a foot shorter than Will but it made a huge difference. Will's mind wandered back to when Nico had hugged him. Nico head only made it to his upper chest.

But as Nico turned around, something about him today was unnerving Will. Nico often looked depressed. No matter how much Will disliked it, it wasn't uncommon. But today, something was different. It wasn't just depression. It was also fear.  
_Why?_ Will asked himself. Will wasn't sure he wanted to find out. Anything Nico feared had to be something horrible, something beyond terrifying.

Will tuned back into the conversation at the booth, Percy telling some tale about his and Annabeth's adventures. Right now, he was talking about the Labyrinth and a younger Nico Di Angelo that seemed so unlike the one Will knew. Will almost didn't believe that that Nico and this Nico were the same person.

Finally, Nico sat in the booth with his double quarter pounder and fries.  
"Oh, Nico." Will said as Nico began eating his burger. "We were just talking about you."

Before Will even finished his sentence, Nico was choking on his food. "What?"  
Nico looked ready to faint. His face was paler than Will had ever seen it, which was saying something. Will was afraid Nico was going to pass out and Will would have to use his healing abilities in front of all these civilians.

Will shrugged, trying to act casual in hopes it would calm Nico down. "Percy was telling me about you when you were younger. "  
Will watched Nico's face start turning green with nausea. Will was beginning to panic, not because he was afraid of healing in front of the mortals, now just because Nico was starting to panic. "I think we better get going guys. We don't have much time to waste. The sooner we get there, the sooner Jason can start building shrines." Will forced his voice to flow without worry, though Will's entire body was overflowing with concern for the raven-haired son of Hades.

Nico looked at his food, which had barely been touched, and started to open his mouth, probably in protest, but shut it again. Will knew Nico wasn't going to argue about a chance to get out of this situation.

The demigods started packing up and heading back to their SUVs. Will purposely lingered behind until he and Nico were practically alone. "Are you okay?"

Nico was still horribly pale, but he looked like he was slowly returning to his usual shade of ghostly white. Nico wouldn't even completely meet Will's eyes. "I just don't really want talk about my past."

Will felt a horrible pang of guilt. How could Will not have known? It was painted all over Nico's face whenever something from the past was brought up. Will felt ashamed. He had been so inconsiderate to even let the conversation go on for as long as it did.

_You need to stop beating yourself up_. Will mentally chided himself. _You didn't know. It was a mistake. Everyone slips up some times._

But what was the price of every slip up? Nico's trust.

Will was busy scolding himself as he walked outside toward their designated SUV when he heard something unforgettable. It was only a whisper, probably not meant to be heard, but that didn't change its meaning to Will.

"Thank you." Nico muttered, his voice full of sincerity. Will was so surprised, he almost stopped dead in his tracks. Will couldn't believe it. Why on Earth would Nico thank him?  
It wasn't until a few minutes later, driving down the road, when Will realized it was because Will had stopped it upon Nico's discomfort. Will had known when the conversation had been too much and when it needed to end.  
_You should have not let it happen in the first place._ Will continued to criticize himself.

...

The sky was painted orange and pink and blue with all the wonderful colors of the setting sun. They had been on the road for hours, not yet stopping for dinner. Will felt his level of energy dropping as the last lights of day began to fade. He had been up since practically the crack of dawn.  
Will was having trouble keeping his eyes open. He knew he was going to have to take a nap before dinner or he'd go face-first into his food. He didn't want the _spaghetti incident_ to happen again. Will hadn't been able to live that down for weeks.

Will was semi-embarrassed. Even after all his checking and re-checking, he had still forgotten a pillow. In his sleepy state, Will was determined to find a good pillow, not really caring what the pillow was.

Will's head finally rested on something warm and comforting and didn't even have time to question what it was before he dozed off.

A short while later, Will was brought back to consciousness by a soft voice. "Will, Wiiilll." It said gingerly, gently trying to shake Will awake. The voice was so comforting, it practically lulled him back to sleep. When Will was finally able to keep his eyes open long enough, he saw Nico staring back at him. Nico had a strange, soft look in his eyes that Will had only seen brief glimpses of before.  
Will jolted up. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to fall asleep on you! How long was I out?"  
Will was still subconscious about making Nico uncomfortable from that morning. He didn't enjoy the idea of Nico sitting there uncomfortable for hours in a cramped van.  
The soft light in Nico's eyes had not yet disappeared. "Its okay. You've only been out an hour or two. I only woke up up because we're stopping for dinner."

Will couldn't help put feel a small smile pull across his lips. Nico didn't look offended or angry. He looked _happy_.  
Will's heart began beating in his throat. Maybe things really were going to change. Maybe he actually had a chance. He could barely keep himself contained, being overwhelmed with giddiness. "Okay." Will swallowed hard, trying to keep his voice level.

He and Nico walked toward the restaurant (for once, not fast food) in peaceful silence. They walked close together, like they had what seemed like so many nights ago on the way to the campfire. They're hands brushed and Will swore he felt the entire world around him electrify.


	12. Chapter 12: Welcome to New Rome

Chapter 12: Welcome to New Rome

Nico was thankful when they finally arrived at Camp Jupiter. He was tired of the hot, cramped SUVs and fast food restaurants. Nico couldn't complain too much though. He had enjoyed traveling in sweaty SUVs for seemingly endless hours much more than the alternative, which was traveling via airplane. Just the thought of it made him nauseous.

The moment Nico stepped out of the car, he was practically tackled by Hazel. She was beaming, obviously excited to see everyone again. Though it hadn't even been long since they last saw each other, Nico could understand it. Readjusting to the war ending and everyone going their separate ways again was hard. Even Nico, who had only been on Argo II for a short period of time, thought it was strange to see the crew apart.

Hazel held Nico at arms length and inspected him. "Wow...You look...healthier."  
"That would be my doing." Will smiled proudly. "I wouldn't say he's healthy yet, but he's getting closer every day."  
"I think he's even gaining some color back." Hazel joked.

To Nico's surprise, he wasn't angry or uncomfortable with Hazel and Will talking about him and his health. He was actually proud of himself. It was strange and hard to explain, but it felt good.

Hazel, Frank, and the Romans that had been traveling with them lead them to the heart of Camp Jupiter. When Nico looked over, he saw Will gaping in awe, cranking his head to see everything.

"Wait until we actually go into the city." Nico whispered to him.  
All Will could say was "Wow". Nico was convinced the Roman Camp might've broken Will.  
Hazel lead them to the "guest barracks", which was actually a lot more comfortable than it sounded. It was like a hotel suite except there was 2 bunk beds in each room. There was a small living area with a couch and flat screen tv and a bunch of other goodies that Nico didn't know existed at Camp Jupiter. Now Nico was the one looking around in awe.

Coach hedge and family had a room to themselves and Annabeth and Piper took the next room, leaving Nico, Will, Jason, and Percy to the third one. Percy and Jason were both offered beds in the fifth cohort, but respectfully turned it down. Somewhere inside him, Nico was disappointed.

Finally, once they all got settled in, Will and Nico emerged back into camp Jupiter. They had some time on their hands. It was only about 4 o'clock and dinner wasn't even until 6. Nico was dying to show Will around. Will had gotten excited just by walking around Camp Jupiter.  
_Wait until he sees the unicorns._ Nico mused to himself.

"So what do you want to do first?" Nico asked Will, who was still amazed by _everything_.  
Will shrugged. "You're the one who's been here before. Lead the way."

Nico dragged Will through the city, showing him anything and everything that was even mildly interesting. Will halted to a dead stop in front of the university.  
"You can go to college here?!" Will began fanning himself with his hand. "Gosh, they've got everything here!"

Nico wanted to laugh at Will's amazement. He wanted to wrap the little dork in his arms and never let go. Unfortunately, Nico didn't really have that option.

"That's the whole point. It a safe place where demigods can settle down and stay for the rest of their lives with little need to go outside the magical borders." Nico moving on.

The tour eventually turned into a peaceful walk by the Shrines and gardens. Nico looked up at the roof of the Pluto Shrine where he and Hazel used to sit. It seemed like forever ago, but it had been just earlier this summer. Before the war had really started. Before Nico was trapped in that stupid bronze jar. Before Nico plunged into Tartarus.  
Nico tried to shake those memories out of his head. Things were different now. Things were better. He had friends and could rely on. He had a best friend.

_But you want him to be more than that._ Nico wanted to blame that thought on some God or goddess of love somewhere, which wasn't unlikely, but Nico was tired of blaming other people for his sorrows. He was tired of holding grudges. He was also tired of keeping who he was a secret, especially to Will. Blaming and hating and keeping secrets wasn't going to get him anywhere.

He could tell Will his feelings right now, while he had Will alone. He tried to open his mouth to speak, but skeletal butterflies raged in Nico's stomach, to the point where he almost threw up. His face grew hot. He thought he was going to pass out from the heat of his cheeks. _No, never mind, I can't do it right now._

Nico suddenly became aware that Will was walking awfully close, not that Nico was complaining. Occasionally, their skin accidentally brushed, sending more heat up to Nico's cheeks.

Gods, what was wrong with him? He had this amazing guy right here that could be his if he would just do something about it. He had vowed to himself that he would tell Will how he felt, and he planned on keeping his word, but when? If he didn't do it soon, he would never do it. He would keep putting it off.  
_I'll do it before we leave Camp Jupiter._

Nico looked down at Camp Jupiter from a garden in the hills. The sun had nearly disappeared behind the horizon. The was a large mass of people gathered near the area of the camp dining hall.

"Oh crap." Nico halted so suddenly he almost lost balance. "Dinner's starting."

...

Will jogged beside Nico back to Camp Jupiter for dinner. He wanted to latch onto Nico's hand and almost did, but then stopped himself last minute. Why must he always second guess himself?

Will was excited and anxious at the same time. He and Nico had been alone for hours. At one point, it even looked like Nico was going to say something or make a move or something. Will desperately wished he would have. This whole do-you-like-me-or-nah game was mentally exhausting to Will.

Will's feeling were practically bursting out of him. He fought against them to keep them contained, but he was going to have to tell someone, if not Nico himself. The only person who officially knew Will's feelings was Lou Ellen, but he hadn't seen her in days and he hadn't really told her all of his feelings. Just the bare minimum.

Truth be told, Will wanted Nico to make the first move. Will knew he was acting like a baby, but he was insecure. He didn't want to take the risk of losing his best friend forever because of a crush. At the same time, Will wondered what life would be like if they were dating. Probably better than being in Limbo, between being friends only and being more.

Will missed the simplicity that used to be his life. Lead your cabin, heal the sick and injured, joke with friends. Now, every spare second was dominated by wistful thoughts and horrible scenarios, all involving the son of Hades. The only possible way to try to ignore it was to put himself to work, but considering he was on vacation, there wasn't much work here for him.

The path back to camp Jupiter seemed longer than ever. They had to dodge in and out of the streets of New Rome, which were filled with people getting ready to celebrate their Friday night. Nico said this was a shortcut, but it didn't seem very short to Will.

Will was extra careful in avoiding bumping into the people of New Rome. Nico had told him before that they were pretty much all ex-Roman soldiers and Will had seen what the Romans could do. He imagined that knocking one over wouldn't be very good for him.

Finally, Will and Nico practically slid to a stop in front of the dining hall. Will didn't have time to catch his breath before they walked inside and took their seats with the fifth cohort (and the consuls, Reyna and Frank). Everyone else was already there on time, so naturally, they received a stares and glances when they walked in late.  
At the table, the fifth cohort was in deep conversation. Will managed to figure out that it started with Percy at the other end of the table telling jokes and then everyone else joined in. The dining hall was filled with laughter.  
Will once thought that after the war, after the lives lost, he might never hear demigods laugh again, especially not the crew of Argo II. They had lost a dear friend. How could there be happiness after that? But here Will was now. They recovered. The world recovered. Things got better. Just the thought of it make Will spread into a toothy grin.

Will was amazed by the flying dishes and the magical plates that automatic knew what you like. He was going to seriously talk to Chiron about getting some of those. Nico said there plates didn't just fly on their own, that they were powered by wind spirits. Will thought to flying on their own thing was cooler. Consequently, Will got hit in the head with a flying Apple.

Dinner was over in the blink of an eye. Everyone retreated to their barracks, still smiling. Nico and Will trailed behind the others, not in too much of a hurry.

"Wanna take a walk?" Nico asked.  
Will couldn't keep himself from laughing. "We just took a walk earlier."  
"I know. " Nico shrugged.  
Will rolled his eyes. It was like Nico was _trying_ to be cute. "I don't even think that we're supposed to be out this late. We're not even campers here. We'll get in trouble."

The wicked smile that Will had saw also a week ago at capture the flag returned. Will had to admit, when Nico smirked like that, his heart skipped a beat.  
"Not if we don't get caught." Nico's sparked with mischief.  
Will felt like he was going to faint. Will's voice cracked slightly as his heart rate skyrocketed. "Okay."

Will was sure Nico Di Angelo was going to be the death of him.


	13. Chapter 13: The Flower Goddess

Chapter 13: The Flower Goddess

Will was sure they were about to get in trouble when they passed a small group of Romans.

_This is how my life is going to end. _Will told himself, accepting his doom.  
He was surprised when the Romans didn't stop them. They didn't ask them where they were going and they didn't yell at them that it was after curfew. One of them even nodded at Nico, kind of like a sign of respect. Will was awestruck. He had seen very few Romans do that and only to people like Reyna or Jason.

"People around here really like you, don't they?" Will asked once the Romans were out of earshot.

Nico stared down at his shoes sheepishly. "They didn't used to. They used to hate me more than the Greeks. I guess it's just one of the aftereffects of stopping the war."

_Used to hate him more than the Greeks._ That phrase took a stab at Will's heart. The Greeks had never hated Nico. Nico had hated himself, so he assumed everyone else did too. Will felt his heart breaking.

"Nico, we never hated you."

Nico scoffed. "Yeah right."

"Please, don't do this again." Will practically begged. "I'm tired of you treating yourself like a disease. You think everyone hates you. You think you hurt people just by being alive and none of that's true. You're not worthless. I thought you had realized that."

Nico was silent for a moment as they continued to climb through the hilly streets of New Rome. They were completely alone at this point and an awful awkward silence was growing between them. By the time Nico spoke again, they were strolling by the shrines and temples.

"I'm sorry I keep wasting your time." Nico practically winced at his own words.  
Will had not known real emotional pain until he heard Nico's broken voice whisper that sentence. Will's heart broke so much, it was pretty much dust.  
Will stopped dead in front of the Pluto shrine, mouth hanging open, staring at Nico, looking utterly hurt. Nico stopped too and stared at Will with sad, sulken eyes that Will had tried so desperately to fix.  
Will was prepared to do something insane.

"Don't you ever think something like that again." Will said, grabbing Nico by the collar and kissed him. Will closed his eyes because he couldn't bare to watch Nico's probably utter disgusted face. Will wasn't sure if Nico was going to talk to him ever again after this.

Will's heart almost stopped beating when he felt Nico kiss back. His cheeks, which were already heated like an oven, became hotter than volcanoes. He could feel heat radiating off of Nico's cheeks too. Butterflies were causing havoc in Will's stomach, trying to break free.

Will didn't let go of Nico's collar until he was gasping for air. Will almost laughed when he saw Nico, who had basically been on his tippy-toes, shrink back to his normal height. He felt so giddy. At the same, He felt like he was about to throw up from the butterflies.

Nico stared at Will in shock for a moment. He began to open his mouth to speak but before either of them had the chance to say anything, they plummeted into pitch black darkness.

...  
Nico was sure he had passed out. Or died. Neither would've surprised him at the moment.

But when Nico realized he had full control over his body, he knew something was wrong. Strong wind blew threw his clothes and his hair. When he looked up, he saw a round circle of light and color that was getting smaller with every second. The ground had literally been ripped out from underneath his feet. He was falling. Where he was falling to, he had only the slightest idea.

It was pitch black all around him. He couldn't see his hand two inches from his face. The wind swirled around him. All the heat that had just been on his face a moment ago was extinguished by freezing gusts of air.

Was Will falling too or was he still on top of the Earth far above? Did the hole just swallow Nico? A faint whimpering coming from somewhere near him told him no.  
They fell for at least a solid 3 minutes. Nico was grateful when they hit the rock hard ground. Free-falling was not his forte.

Nico scanned his surroundings. There was barely any light, but at least it was better than no light. It was like a cavern, tinted slightly green by the light, with massive stone walls surrounding them. He knew this place all too well. This was the underworld.

Will struggled to his feet next to Nico, brushing pebbles out his hands from the landing. Nico felt so horrible that Will was here, about what Will was probably about to be dragged into.  
"Nico, did you use your powers?" Will accused.  
"No!" Nico tried to defend himself. "I didn't do this! I swear on the River Styx!"

Will didn't try to argue with that.  
Nico was positive that this was the work of some God or goddess and unfortunately, he had a suspicion of who. When a dim figure in a silky _chiton_ stepped into view, all of Nico's hunches were confirmed.  
The torch she was holding cast wicked shadows across her, making her look like a monster, which Nico knew wasn't far from the truth.

"Persephone." He practically snarled.  
"That's no way to talk to your step-mother." She growled back.  
Anger was already starting to boil up inside of Nico. She treated Nico like crap, but then always called him to come fix her problems. Now she had decided it would be a perfect time to interrupt Nico's personal life for more of her issues that she could deal with by herself. She hated Nico just because he was Hades's son. She had turned Nico into a flower at least twice. Besides all that, Nico was allergic to her. Literally.

"What is it this time?" Nico snapped at her. Will stood an inch or so behind Nico, not exactly sure what was going on.  
Persephone put on a pleasant voice, trying to act nice in front of Will. "Must you always be so rude?"

Nico was almost tempted to use his powers to shadow travel him and Will back to Camp Jupiter, but he'd probably kill himself in the process. What would happen to Will if Nico died mid-shadow travel? Would he die too? Nico really didn't want to find out.

"Let's just get this over with." Nico grinded his teeth.

Persephone led the way towards Hades's palace. She spoke as she walked, explaining Hades had been acting quite strange lately. It was like he was hiding a secret and mad at Persephone at the same time.

"So you want us to go talk to him?" Nico asked. "And you couldn't do that yourself?"

"Its different when you talk to him. You're his son. You two can have 'guy talk' or whatever."

"You brought us all the way down here to talk to him?" Nico crossed his arms. "Also, why are you even still down here anyway? There's still a few weeks of summer left."

She looked at Nico like he was crazy. "There's a war going on up there! You know that I stay in the underworld during times of war!"  
Nico felt taken back. "Persephone, the war ended over two weeks ago."

Persephone's features deflated. It was obvious that this was news to her. "It did?"

Nico almost felt bad for Persephone, but then he remembered who she is and what she had done to him. She deserved it. It was karma.

Will and Nico both nodded at her, not making a noise. A horrible fire started brewing in her eyes that Nico knew on sight. She was furious and bad things were about to happen to whoever was closest to her. Unfortunately, Nico and Will were closest to her.

Nico stood in front of Will in an attempt to guard him. The look in Persephone's eyes told him that if he wanted to live, he needed to run. Now.

He grabbed Will by the hand and started tugging him along, sprinting towards Hades's palace. Nico was practically praying to his father at this point. _Please don't let her kill us. Please don't let her kill us._

Finally, they reached one of the side doors. Luckily, it automatically swung open for Nico. He dragged Will inside and frantically tried to close the door. Was this made of solid marble?  
After a few seconds, Nico gave up on trying to close the door. It would probably just swing open for her too. He and Will continued to run, in desperate need of air. They ran straight into Hades's throne room.  
"You..didn't...tell..her...the war...ended." Nico said in between breaths.

Hades, who had been pacing the floor, was clearly surprised Nico was even there. "I thought you were staying at Camp Half-Blood."

"I was! I was at Camp Jupiter because they invited us to a feast and then your psychotic wife opened up a hole in the Earth and dragged us down here!"

Hades was quiet for a minute, contemplating Nico's words. Then, obviously trying to change the topic, he said "Well, aren't you going to introduce us?"

Nico gaped at his father. Now was not the time, but with a twinge of reluctance, he said "Fine. Will, this is Hades. Hades, this is Will. Now, can we concentrate on what's important at the moment, like the fact that your wife is going to kill all of us."

As if on cue, Nico heard a deafening crash, which sounded a lot like a door being kicked in not too far away. He had never seen Hades scared until that moment.

"Why didn't you tell her?!" Nico yelled at his father. Nico had thought before that telling Will his feelings was terrifying. Nico now knew that there was nothing more terrifying than being chased by an angry flower goddess who was kicking down marble doors.

"I didn't want her to leave!" Hades shouted back, a mix of fear and sadness in his eyes. Hades then moved towards his throne, ripping open part of the wall beside it. A hidden door. Through the door was a stairwell leading down to who knows where. "This way."

"How long has that been there?" Nico questioned his father.

Hades sighed. "Do you know how long I've been married to Persephone? There's a lot of hiding places in this palace."

After some more loud crashes, Nico decided there was no more time for questions. He grabbed Will by the arm and raced down the twisting stairwell.


	14. Chapter 14: The Hades Cave

Chapter 14: The Hades Cave

Will remembered playing hide-and-seek as a kid, except now he was playing hide-and-seek to the death.

From all the myths Will had heard, he had imagined Persephone as a gentle goddess who had no cares except flowers. As Nico pulled Will down a dark, twisting staircase, he realized he was wrong. This was definitely not how Will imagined meeting Nico's family.

Hades followed them not far behind, also trying to escape Persephone's wrath. Who knew a goddess of flowers could be so violent? But then again, she had been trapped in the underworld for centuries (only getting to spend one third of the year in the upperworld). Will imagined that could drive _anyone_ mad.

Still, Persephone was _insane_. But then again, most of the gods were. Will was close to hiring a godly therapist.

On the walls, glowing green torches lead the way. They were spread far apart, causing gaps in the light. At times, they were submerged into total darkness. The only thing Will was sure of at this point was that Nico was holding his hand. Will felt like there was electricity going up and down his whole arm. This whole situation was like a nightmare and a dream at the same time. He wasn't entirely sure what he was supposed to feel. Excited? Joyful? Terrified? Anxious? All of the above?

Will's legs were getting tired. How long had they been running? He wasn't quite sure, but he knew that humans were not built to run this fast for this long. Besides that, with every step, he was afraid he was going to topple down the stair case.

Finally, after running down what Will assumed was equivalent to twenty or more flights of stairs, they finally reached a room. To Will, it looked like a man-cave, build so that Hades could hide for weeks, maybe even months from his wife. Will thought that was kind of low, but at least there were comfortable leather couches.

The Hades cave (which is what one of the plaques on the wall said) had several rooms and hallways branching off from it. The room was complete with a mini fridge, a microwave, a pool table (who did Hades even play pool with?), a large flat screen TV and a bunch of other goodies that look incredibly expensive, at least by mortal standards. there were also a bank of outdated computers in one corner of the room. Will imagined he used those to manage the underworld from down here. Hades had a palace underneath his palace.

Will flung himself onto the leather couch, still trying to catch his breath, more than ready to take a nap. Nico's glare told him he better move or there would be fatal consequences. Usually, Will would test Nico, knowing Nico would push him on the floor (or at least attempt to), but Will was tired. It was hard to imagine that just earlier that day they had been traveling to Camp Jupiter. So much had happened since then. It felt like a lifetime ago.

Hades sat in a leather seat on the other side of the glass coffee table. "Let me explain." Hades said. That phrase never meant anything good. "Persephone was just going to have to come back in a few weeks anyway."

"So you thought, 'Hey, I'm just not going to tell her really important information, like how the war ended weeks ago!'" Nico shot back.

Hades put his hands up in surrender. "I did it because lately, she's been having affairs like crazy. If I kept her here, she couldn't do that."

"Oh my gods, I'm here to fix your love life?" Nico was starting to look green, like he was close to throwing up. "Why do you care? You've had affairs too."

Hades brushed off Nico's comment. "That's different. I've had very few. Every time I turn around, she's with a new mortal."

"No it's not different." Nico retorted. Will sat there and watched the bickering, which was going back and forth like a tennis match. They were practically tearing each other apart.

"Is this the reason things keep dying without cause?" Will said finally. The argument died off.

"The deaths are not my fault." Hades said, defending himself. "That's Demeter going on one of her rampages again. She's standing on mount olympus, pointing at animals and telling them to die. I think she's trying to make my realm more chaotic."

"Father." Nico said, looking straight into his father's eyes. "You have to let her go."

"Why should I? Demeter has never said one kind word to me. Why should I give her what she wants?"

"Because A) maybe she hasn't said anything nice to you because you keep holding her daughter hostage. B) because it's the right thing to do."

Hades scoffed. "Are you trying to give me the same speech you gave me when I refused to participate in the second Titan war?"

"Well, I won that argument, didn't I?" Nico carried a small smug grin on his face.

"Look," Nico said, serious again. "She'll be back in a few weeks. She'll have her few weeks of freedom. You'll get to have a few weeks of sanity. I don't see a problem here."

"She'll just cheat again." Hades growled, his anger not really directed at Nico, but at Persephone. Small flames of fury hid in Hades eyes, trying to stay unnoticed. He didn't hide them very well.

"Why don't you just calmly tell her that you're upset with her and that you don't appreciate her disloyalty?" Will suggested. Hades looked at him like he was insane. At first, Nico had a similar look, but it dissolve into a look of agreement.  
"you know he's right." Nico nodded.

Hades leaned back in his chair, in deep thought. It seemed like forever before he said anything. "Fine."

Nico suddenly looked hopeful. "Does that mean we can go back to camp Jupiter now?"

"No," Hades said, shaking his head with what might have been regret. "Not until Persephone's wrath is over. If you leave them room, she'll probably kill you."

Nico shrank back into the couch, arms crossed. "Great."

"So," Hades started trying to make conversation. "Are you two friends or-?"

"I'd rather have Persephone kill me than continue this conversation." Nico tried to sound bland, as if Hades's question hadn't affected him, but his face was turning bright red. Will felt his doing the same.

"Agreed." Hades yawned. "Well, I have a littler bedroom over here, so I'm just going to go to sleep. The bathroom is the first door on the right down this hallway."  
Hades walked off. Will didn't move until he heard Hades's bedroom door click closed. Will turned to face Nico.

"I'm sorry you got dragged into this." Nico apologized.

Will smiled at the little dork. "It's fine. Your dad seems... nice."

"This is all my fault." Nico groaned miserably, hiding his face in his hands.

Will was taken by surprise. "What? How could this even remotely be your fault?"

"If I hadn't insisted we go for a walk," Nico said. "We might be at Camp Jupiter right now."

"Hey," Will said softly. "You didn't know Persephone was going to do this. I don't regret the walk." Will was pretty sure he wasn't even talking about the stroll they had taken at this point, but about something else they had done. "Do you?" He asked Nico.

"No." Nico didn't even hesitate. "It's just that, I passed up on an opportunity to keep you safe and look where we are now."

"Do you need a hug?" Will grinned a little, trying to cheer Nico up.

Nico rolled his eyes. "Solace, I really don't think that now is the time for hugs."

Will gasped, pretending to be offended. "It is _always_ the time for hugs."  
Nico didn't even try to stop Will as he embraced him. They sat there for a long time, Nico in Will's arms. After a while, Nico even laid his head on Will's chest.

They may have been in the underworld, but Will was pretty sure he was in Heaven.


	15. Chapter 15: Persephone's garden

Chapter 15: Persephone's garden

Nico woke up laying in Will's arms. He prayed that his father hadn't come out of his room and saw this. He would never hear the end of it.

The room was dark, like it had been when Nico fell asleep. The only noise was the faint hum as the tv played, muted, and Will's obnoxious snoring. Nico plucked Will's phone out of his pocket carefully and clicked the button on the side. The screen, which was blindingly bright, turned on showing the time. 3:57 am, Saturday.  
It was almost 4 in the morning. Nico cursed at himself. It wasn't uncommon for him to wake up randomly in the middle of the night, but there was usually a reason. When Nico looked around the room, he realized there was definitely a reason.

Skeletons, all wearing varying military uniforms, surrounded them. These were his father's servants. They would listen to Nico. They had to.

"What is your business?" Nico asked the skeletons, trying to sound stern but not wake Will up at the same time.  
They chattered, the jaws clicking against their skull, trying to answer his question but not able to. _Oh, right._ _Forgot about that_.

"Well, whatever it is, it can be taken care of tomorrow. You are dismissed." Nico waved his hand. The skeletons didn't budge. Why weren't they listening to him?

When they began to approach the couch, Nico really started freaking out. They had to listen to him. They _had_ to. Nico could dismantle them with his powers, but he wasn't much in the mood for dying right now. Plus, if he died, he was sure Will would kill him.

"I _said_, you are dismissed." Nico hissed at them. Maybe they just weren't hearing him.

That theory was blown out of the water when one of the skeletons shook his head, followed by the others. No. They had said no. This meant one of two things.  
Either they had received orders from someone higher up than Nico or they were having a rebellion.  
Nico seriously doubted they were stupid enough to have a rebellion. Or maybe they weren't smart enough, considering they didn't really have any kind of brains.

There were only two people who they would listen to over Nico, one of which was Hades, who was in the other room, letting his godly snores shake the palace. The other was his ever-so-lovely stepmother, who was out for blood. It didn't take much detective work to figure out who sent them.

A lone skeleton came out the of dark hallway that led to where Hades was sleeping. He nodded at the others. The skeletons moved in unison, making they're way down the hallway. Hades's snoring stopped.  
Maybe it was a rebellion.

Nico quickly shook Will awake, which was not an easy task. He had to practically roll him off the couch to wake Will up from his coma.  
"Get up." Nico hissed quietly.

"Whhhhyyy?" Will groaned, not even half awake.

"Because there's a bunch of skeletons here and they won't listen to me and I don't think they're here to be friends." Nico said as quickly as he could.

At this, Will sat up a little and opened his sky blue eyes. "A bunch of what?"

Will's question was answered when the skeletons came marching out of Hades room, dragged the God with them. Nico wasn't sure why Hades didn't dare to fight back. Why was Hades letting this happen? Why hadn't he even commanded them to back off?

Nico met eyes with his father. To Nico's surprise, Hades didn't even look mad or upset or anything like that. Hades looked peaceful.  
Hades mouthed one word and Nico understood. "Persephone."

Persephone had sent the skeletons after them, to find Hades, so she could give her punishment. Nico was sure she was going to find some sort of excuse to punish him and Will too.

A smaller group of skeletons came and grabbed Nico and a very confused Will, restraining their arms like prisoners. The skeletons lead them up the staircase that they had fled down only a few hours ago. The walk back up seemed endless. Will stumbled up the stairs next to Nico. Tired wasn't a strong enough word to describe how Will must've felt. Nico swore that at one point, he heard Will start snoring again.

When they finally reached the throne room, the light blinded him. Nico estimated they had been climbing up the dark staircase for nearly an hour. Persephone stood on the other side of the room. Once Hades was carried into the throne room, the skeletons let go of Nico and Will. Will stumbled a little and almost fell over.  
"Would you wake up?" Nico snapped at him quietly.

"You know, 5 in the morning is sleep time, not be-in-a-throne-room-in-the-underworld-awaiting-punishment time." Will muttered.

"You know, i think I like you better when you're asleep." Nico held his arms out, ready to catch Will if he fell, which seemed very likely.

Will gave Nico a half asleep smirk. "No, you don't."

"Shut up, Solace."

"So," Persephone boomed, silencing Nico and Will's bickering. "Here's the liar I call my husband."

"Persephone," Hades said softly. "My dear, I did what I did because I love you. I didn't want you to leave. I was jealous. I did wrong. But these two-" he made a grand gesture to Will and Nico, Will giving the goddess and awkward wave. "Helped me realize that. Punish me as you will, but they are innocent and had no part in this. Release them."

Persephone seemed to think it over for a minute.  
"Fine, but you must give me an extra month in the mortal world."

"That's going to mess up the whole balance of the mortal lives!" Hades shouted, gaping wide from surprise.

"Yeah, I know." Persephone didn't even blink. "But you should have thought about that before you lied to me."

Hades opened his mouth like he wanted to argue, but Nico figured he didn't because Hades knew he had the disadvantage.

"But are they free to go?" Hades asked on Nico's behalf. Nico hadn't quite believed Hades back in Portugal when Reyna and Nico were bringing the statue to Camp Half Blood. He hadn't believed that Hades really planned on being a good father to Nico. He didn't believe Hades wanted Nico to be happy.

He sure believed it now.

"Yes, after they do a little garden work for me, they'll be free."

"Garden work? There are gardens in the underworld?" Will yawned, slowly waking up.

_"_There's _a_ garden in the underworld, yes." Persephone waved her hand, summoning them to follow her.

...  
Will thought Persephone's garden was beautiful in its own underworld-ish way. Most of the flowers and fruits glowed in every color of the spectrum. There were twisting white trees that were incredibly thin, but seemed to almost touch the roof of the underworld. They walked on a path made of black bricks and bones, which was cool, but Will thought the bones part was a bit overboard.

"All you have to do it weed the flower beds and water the garden. And then when you get done with that, I need you to plant some Moonlace." Persephone said, tossing a tray into Nico's hands. The tray was filled with a dozen little black flower pots, each one with a small silver-glowing flower.

The garden was _huge_. It was going to take hours to get all that work done.  
"Don't you have a gardener?" Nico practically spit at her.

She waved off Nico's comment, ignoring him. "You two better get started. The sooner you get finished, the sooner you can leave."  
She walked off back into the palace, slamming the door shut behind her. Will and Nico just stood there for a minute, Will not even believing how rude she was. Will felt a slight hatred growing inside of him for the flower goddess.

Nico sighed finally, breaking the silence. "Don't eat anything."


	16. Chapter 16: a lovely family

**I'm sorry it took so long to post. It's because I have 2 state tests coming up plus the usual chaos of the end of the school year, so the workload my teachers have been giving me has been huge. Also, a warning: this story is going to end soon. I'm not sure if last chapter will be next chapter or one after that. Another note, I love the reviews! They have made me _so_ happy! I really hope you've enjoyed this! Bye for now**!

Chapter 16: A lovely Family

"Why could she just, like, use goddess powers and do this herself?" Will whined. His back hurt from bending over so much and his legs were about to go on strike. Not to mention, the bone-and-brick pathway was easy on his knees. Who knew tending to a garden could be so painful?

"Because she's insane and she loves to torture me in anyway she can. That's what happens when your father has a jealous wife." Nico replied a bit bitterly.

Will stood up, partly to examine his work, mostly because his back was killing him. "Wait so she doesn't want Hades to get mad when she cheats, but when he cheats, she gets mad."

Nico looked up from his work and nodded in agreement. "Yep, that's pretty much how it works."

"How have the gods managed to not kill each other?" Will asked himself. "The good news is, all we really have left to do is plant these silver flower things and we can leave."

The thought of leaving this dark place excited Will. He had only been here a few hours and he already felt a horrible sense of hopelessness growing in him. It was terrifying what this place could do to you. No wonder Nico was so gloomy.

They set to work, trying to plant the silver flowers as fast as they could. Even then, it took almost an hour. Will's back screamed with pain from being hunched over. He and Nico slowly got to their feet, holding their backs like old men. Will decided he never wanted a garden.

"We're done. " Will sighed, wiping sweat from his forehead. He looked at Nico, who looked like he was about to tear Persephone in half. His clothes were covered in dirt. Dirt had even managed to get in Nico's hair. Will was sure he didn't look much better.

Will gestured to a stone bench in front of a small fountain not far away. "Wanna sit for a minute?"

"Yeah." Nico nodded and followed Will to the bench. They sat there for moment, just resting.

"I'm so sorry. I know my family is just...lovely" Nico said sarcastically. "I'm sorry I got you dragged into this."

Will laughed. "That's like, the second time you've apologized. It okay. There's no place I'd rather be. Well, actually there's a lot of places I'd rather be, but only if I were with you."

Nico's eyes were soft, gazing at Will as if he were a star.

"Here," Will said, cupping some water from the fountain into his hand. "Let's clean you up a little."

He washed all the dirt off of Nico's face and a little out of his hair. Will finally settled his hands on Nico's cheeks and pulled him in for a kiss. Nico didn't protest.

Is Nico my boyfriend? Are we dating? What's going on between us?

Will was practically torturing himself with all the unanswered questions. He wanted Nico to answer them, but he was afraid to ask. What if Nico said no?

Why would Nico say no? You've kissed him like 5 times already. He would have said something. You're just over thinking it now. Plus it's a simple question for clarification. What harm can a question cause?

Will scolded himself for being a wimp.

I save people from the brink of death on a regular basis, but I can't even ask Nico if we're dating?

Will remembered Nico's words from capture the flag. He couldn't just sit here and expect to win. That's it. I'm going to ask him out.

"Hey, Nico?" Will said quietly. "So ummmmm, when we get back to camp Jupiter, do you wanna go bowling or something like that?"

Nico stared at him for a second, as if having trouble comprehending Will's sentence. "Did you just ask me out?"

Will felt his entire face flush scarlet red. This definitely wasn't the reaction Will was hoping for. "Maybe. a little bit."

Nico look of confusion faded into a small, genuine smile. "Of course, dummy. But first we have to get back to camp Jupiter."

"Oh right!" Will had completely forgotten that they were supposed be going to see Persephone. "We should probably get going."

...

Nico was impressed with himself. He had managed to keep his cool composure, but on the inside he was screaming. Not like, scared screaming, but screaming from joy. When will had first asked him out, he felt like he could pass out right then. How could this be real? He could believe in Greek gods and monsters and myths, but he could barely believe this.

Nico felt happy. He felt his heart melting as if made of butter. He already knew that Will had some sort of feelings for him. They had kissed, what was it, about 5 or 6 times by now? But the fact that Will actually wanted to date him, wanted to be his boyfriend seemed too good to be true. He wanted to pinch himself because he was almost positive he was dreaming.

They walked down the hallway towards the throne room, Nico leading because Will didn't know the way. Nico was vaguely aware of the freezing air in the hallway, but he could barely feel it. His cheeks felt like an oven. He was sure that even in the dim light of the hallway, Will was able to see Nico blushing. Why must he always blush so hard? He felt like if he got too close to a candle, he'd melt it.

Throne room was loud, with Hades and Persephone in a heated argument. Nico and Will hid in the doorway behind the large stone doors decorated with bones.

"My dear, it was only because I love you." Hades tried to say calmly, but it looked as if Persephone was just getting fired up.

"Why do you torture me like this? I let you run off with your little Italian girls and fortune tellers and you can't even let me have the little time I have in the upper world?!"

Nico winced at the comment, but Persephone and Hades didn't even know he was there.

"Let me run off?" Hades scoffed. "Every time I have demigod children, you do something like turn them into flowers. I'm pretty sure Nico's been a sunflower twice by now!"

Nico winced at that comment too, remembering what it was like to do photosynthesis. He really didn't want to listen to this conversation anymore. He stepped into the throne room, cutting whatever Persephone was about to say short. "We're done."

Persephone glared at him, which he was pretty much used to from her by now. "Very well." She sighed. "I must return you to that demigod camp of yours now."

She waved her hand and a giant black hole appeared in the ceiling. It sucked in air like a vacuum. Nico and Will were swept off their feet being pulled into the darkness.

Going back up was even worse than falling down the hole in the first place. It reminded Nico of flying. He hated flying. By the time they could see light above them, Nico was on the verge of throwing up.

Slowly, a circle of color above them grew larger. The ground spit them out into the air. Nico landed with a hard thud. Ow. He was sure Persephone had done that on purpose.

The light burned his eyes. It took a few minutes to readjust to the almost surreal light of the sun. Nico looked around, taking it all in. He had never been happier to be back at a demigod camp. He was almost tempted to kiss the ground below his feet.

"Camp Jupiter." Will said. "Thank gods."


	17. Chapter 17: The Feast

**Author's note: ****I'm ****sooo**** sorry it took so long to update. It was hard writing this last chapter, trying think of how to end it. Along with that I've started reading Kane Chronicles (which is ****_really_**** good so far) and trying to survive the end-of-the-school-year chaos. There's going to be another author's note at the bottom for more info on what going to ****hap****pen ****now. Without further delay, here is the final chapter.**

Chapter 17: The feast.

Nico shielded his eyes. Why was camp Jupiter so bright? His eyes didn't have time to adjust before there were arms reaching down for him. At first, he thought it was Will. How was he up so fast? But then he saw the buzz-cut blonde hair and the glasses.  
Jason looked half excited, half worried. "Why are you covered in dirt? Where have you guys been?" Jason asked helping them up.

"To hell and back." Will said cheerfully.

Jason gave Nico worried look that said _"could you explain what he just said?"_

"Persephone brought us down there to figure out what was wrong with Hades and then we told her the war was over, which she didn't know because my father didn't tell her on purpose. Then she started chasing so we ran and hid with Hades for a while. Then she sent skeleton servants to find us and bring us to her. They dragged us out of the hiding spot and into the throne, where Hades begged for her to let Will and I go. She agreed but made us do garden work. Then, after we were done, we came back here." Nico tried to summarize everything that had happened in the past day.

"Uh..okay. well, glad you're back then. Hazel was freaking out. She's also freaking out because of how much there is to do before the feast. You disappearing didn't help much. I'm not quite sure if she's ready to slap you or hug you to be completely honest." Jason said calmly.

"Thanks for the heads up." Nico said, now on his feet. He then turned to Will. "Let's go see my sister. Then, we can go see about that trip to the bowling alley."

Jason walked away, saying something about lots of shrine to build, and they strolled toward New Rome. Part of Nico almost felt guilty for walking so slow, knowing his sister was somewhere freaking out about him, but just passed all the temples and arenas with his boyfriend felt good.

_Boyfriend_. The word was still new, foreign to Nico. Just thinking about the word made him grin ear to ear and made his heart pump like wild. Nico thought it was ridiculous that one word could do this to him

Will took Nico's hand and Nico felt a bright red blush take over his face.  
A question crossed Nico's mind. _How? How could Will like him? How did that even make sense?_

As Nico and Will strolled back to camp Jupiter, hand in hand, Will telling bad jokes the whole way to make Nico laugh, Nico decided those questions didn't really matter. What mattered was that Will _did_ like him, and Nico liked Will.

...  
Will couldn't help but smile when he saw Nico's sister drop a bunch of plates when she saw her brother. She came at Nico, running at full speed. Will was more than surprised when Hazel enveloped _both_ of them in a hug.

"Thank Pluto, you're back and, well, alive. You two almost worried me to death." Hazel said with relief. "Where have you been? You were here at dinner yesterday and then just...gone." she drew away looking at Nico for an explanation.

"We took a walk and then Persephone insisted on disturbing us." Nico proceeded to explain everything that had happen in the past several hours.

"Well, at least you're back. I couldn't hope for anything better." Hazel embraced them both again. "Just try not to get sucked into the underworld again. The feast is less than two days from now and I swear by olympus, I will not have one of the most important guests trapped in Hell."

"Ill try my hardest." Nico laughed. _Gods_, Will _loved_ the sound of his laugh. He just wished he could hear it more often.

"You and Will should probably go rest. It sounds like you've been through quite a bit and I don't want either of you collapsing from exhaustion." Hazel said, steering them toward the guest barracks

Will wanted to argue that he felt fine, but he knew that would be a lie. it truly was hard to ignore the exhaustion he felt. He was healer and he had to admit that even healers had to lie down and rest sometimes.

Will wasn't very surprised when he and Nico laid down in their bunks and Will heard Nico start snoring almost instantly. Will couldn't help but smile when he looked over and saw the death boy, sound asleep, cuddling with his pillow. Will felt the urge to go kiss Nico on the forehead but he managed to resist.

_I swear sometimes this boy tries to adorable on purpose._ Will thought to himself.

Soon, Will drifted off too, still smiling.

...  
_Two days later_

The feast was more lavish than Nico had expected. He had been to a camp Jupiter feast once before, way before the war started. It hadn't been nearly as great as this one. This one truly was a celebration.

The Greeks who didn't have togas already were given white ones embroidered with gold to show they were a guests of honor (which Nico thought made Will look really cute but he'd never say that out loud). Nico still had his black toga from his days as "ambassador of Pluto". It didn't hang off of him quite as much as it used to, which Nico decided to take as a good sign.

Nico sat right next to the end of the table, jammed between Reyna and Will. He felt himself turn scarlet when Will took his hand under the table. Though Will held their hands under the table, their relationship wasn't anywhere _near_ a secret, not after their date at the bowling alley. Everyone at _both_ camps knew by now.

Nico had even received an iris message from the Apollo cabin, half a congratulations, half a threat. In the iris message, Will's brothers had even given Nico a lovely tour of the abundant supply of bows and arrows they had and what they could do to no specific son of Hades.  
Reyna gave a short speech about the brave missions that the honored guests had been through. She made sure to dedicate a good portion of her speech to Nico and coach Hedge, giving herself almost no credit.  
She ended the speech with a simple "thank you."

Frank stood up giving a speech that lasted no more then 3 sentences and then said "Let the feast begin!"  
Food magically appeared on the golden platters in front of them and no one hesitated to fill up their plates.

...  
The feast ended right before sunset. Will and Nico sat on one of the highest hills in camp Jupiter. The view was amazing. The setting sun cast a golden light upon everything in its path. Will was sure this was perfect.

Until he looked over and saw Nico frowning, staring at the ground. "What's wrong?" Will whispered softly.

Nico twisted his skull ring, hesitant to answer. "It's just...I don't want to end up like my father and Persephone. I'm not even sure if Persephone loves him anymore."

"We won't end up like them. I swear on the River Styx." He pulled Nico in for a hug, resting his arm on Nico's shoulder.  
They sat there, watching the sunset until it was completely dark.

The end

**Author's note: Okay again, I would like to apologize for the long wait. This story initially was supposed to have a much darker plot, but it just never happened. I do plan on writing more fan fics in the future but it might take a while. I've got a lot of rough drafting to do. Just keep watch for a new fanfic from me if you liked this one. I'll try to start a new one as soon as possible, depending mainly on how long it takes to rough draft. Reviews and maybe even ideas for my next fic are more than welcome (I'm thinking of doing a series of one shots. I might even decide to also do a Kane Chronicles fic). I wish all of you good luck and I'll see you in my next story. Bye!**


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